Stringer Report: 2,700 NYC Children Test Positive For Lead, City Missing Inspections
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A shocking new study has found that thousands of children in all five boroughs have high levels of lead in their blood, largely because the city has failed to protect them.
An alarming report reveals New York City failed to protect children from exposure to lead.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer says 2,700 children tested positive for lead and city agencies failed to be proactive.
Between 2013 and 2018, more than 9,600 buildings with documented cases of lead were never even inspected.
"This is sort of the third installment in the lead saga," said CBS2 Urban Affairs Expert Mark Peters. "First we had dangerous levels of lead in NYCHA buildings then we learned there were dangerous levels in schools and now, New York City kids are getting poisoned by lead inside private homes."
The disturbing report added that 22,000 children under the age of three who should have been tested for lead poisoning were never tested.
CBS2 Urban Affairs Expert Mark Peters On NYC Lead Crisis
Last summer, it was revealed that more than 800 children under the age of six living in New York City Housing Authority units tested positive for elevated levels of lead between 2012 and 2016, far more than was first believed by city officials.
READ THE REPORT: September 2019: New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer's Investigation into Child Lead Exposure
Flatbush had the highest numbers of children with elevated blood levels, more than any other community in the city with 1,360 cases.
"Somebody's not doing what they're supposed to do," said Jackie Osborne of Flatbush. "Brain damage could happen to your kids."
"They need to fix that, they're getting kids sick," said Claudia Abraham, also of Flatbush.
In October of 2018, CBS2's Marcia Kramer exposed smoking gun emails that showed Mayor Bill de Blasio misled the public about the extent of lead poisoning in public housing.
Last month, de Blasio was blasted again by city officials who say the mayor and schools chancellor have ignored repeated requests for thorough lead testing in schools — not only classrooms, which are being remediated, but libraries, bathrooms, gyms, auditoriums, cafeterias, stairwells, and resource rooms.
De Blasio says the program was remedied last January as part of his LeadFreeNYC initiative but the damage was already done in thousands of unchecked buildings across all five boroughs.
Stringer is calling for an immediate across the board overhaul of the lead exposure mitigation and enforcement.
