Musings: Get the Lead Out

It's hard to understand. Actually, it's easy to understand, within the world of politics. It's just fricking stupid. Here's what's I mean:

A lot of Hawaii kids are testing positive for exposure to high levels of lead. Yes, lead. The nasty heavy metal that impairs brain development in keiki, and causes health problems for people of any age. As the Centers for Disease Control reports: No safe level of lead exposure has been identified.

But as Sophie Cocke reported in The Star-Advertiser (it's behind a pay wall, but since this is such an important issue, I've made a copy of the article here):

The Health Department data, based on lab results of children under 3, also indicates that roughly two-thirds of young children in Hawaii aren’t being screened for lead, even though children on Medicaid are supposed to be tested at about 1 and 2 years of age, a requirement that some say should be expanded for all young children.

Why? Again, as Cocke reports:

The Health Department lost federal funding for its Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in 2003 and largely discontinued data collection, education and prevention efforts.

The state’s Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office is already trying to do a better job in tracking lead cases. Health officials are using a new software system this year that will allow it to monitor cases of lead exposure in real time, track whether children are receiving follow-up testing and care, and better coordinate response efforts.

But the office still lacks an epidemiologist who could help track lead cases and study specific communities at risk. The HEER office has unsuccessfully sought funding for the position for several years, including this year.

So here we have a documented serious health problem that seems to be disproportionately affecting children on Kauai and the Big Island.

Yet Hawaii legislators aren't talking about giving more money to HEER. Instead, they're advancing a bill that would spend $3 million — correction, $6 million over two years — on implementing the Joint Fact Finding report on pesticides — even though not a single child has been documented with any exposure to seed company pesticide use.

Why?

Because the anti-GMO folks — while claiming to be concerned about keiki — have latched onto the pesticide issue. They've spent considerable time and money whipping up fears and lobbying legislators to do more to protect people from the mere possibility of pesticide harm.

Meanwhile, with lead exposure, there's a real, absolute and documented harm as kids keep eating lead dust and paint chips. Their IQ is lowered and their nervous system is damaged. For life.

Where is the public outcry from the “stop poisoning paradise, protect our keiki and kupuna” crowd?

Though we've seen dozens of videos on how agriculture is poisoning Hawaii, we haven't seen one meme about the silent and deadly impact of lead on Island communities.

Where are all the social justice advocates? Especially considering that poverty is one of the predictors of lead exposure. Why hasn't Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on their behalf, instead of those who merely live near ag fields and have no documented harm other than a dubious hair sample that showed mostly domestic pesticides?

Where are the lawmakers willing to stand up and fund what needs to be funded, as opposed to the squeaky wheel?

Sen. Josh Green gets it, according to Cocke's piece: 

He said that by the time a child suffering from lead toxicity is 4 or 5 years old, it’s too late. “They’re going to have a high probability of intellectual disability." 

But though Green has latched onto the pesticide issue like a tick, he's a do-nothing when it comes to lead.

Again, as Cocke reports:

Lawmakers this year proposed bills that would provide the Health Department with $1 million in funding for lead prevention activities, noting that the loss of CDC funding had “severely limited the department’s lead prevention efforts.”

But neither of the bills received a hearing.

Rep. Della Au Belatti proposed one of the measures, House Bill 249, but then never scheduled a hearing for it in the Health Committee, of which she is chairwoman.

Belatti said she was hoping that the Senate version would move.

The Senate measure, Senate Bill 113, was referred to Sen. Rosalyn Baker’s Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health Committee. Baker didn’t respond to a request to comment on why she didn’t hear the bill.

Belatti said there was a chance that funding for lead prevention could be inserted into the department’s budget, which is being debated by the Legislature, but she suggested that it was up to the Health Department to advocate for it.

“I think we need to rely on the Department of Health to raise the alarm,” she said.

Come on, Della. You call yourself an advocate for women and kids, and you can't even schedule a hearing on your own bill? Surely you can do better than that!

And that goes for all the "warriors" and "protectors" who are so busy jumping on the cause du jour that they're missing the real danger in our midst.

But then, there's no money for groups in sounding the alarm about lead. So nothing gets done, and nothing gets said.