At 9 months old, Cooper Burkett was poisoned by lead, present in the paint in his Manhattan apartment. Now at 15, the health effects of him linger.
“I have suffered since I was little, I lost the ability to speak and the worst part was that I developed a disorder, I ate the wooden crib, walls, books, the most terrible thing about lead is that it affects you for the rest of your life,” said Coopert .
Like him, thousands of children continue to be at risk of being poisoned by inhaling lead, because despite the fact that its use in paints was prohibited since 1960, many homes in the city never completely eliminated this heavy metal.
For this reason, this Tuesday activists and elected officials once again demanded that the law be complied with.
“When children get sick with lead, their behavior affects them, it affects how they concentrate and they will need a lot of help from different services, so it is a very serious situation that we have solutions for,” said councilor Alexa Avilés.
“It is a shame that in the year 2023, children are still exposed and poisoned by lead in the richest city of the richest country in the world,” the councilor also wrote in a message on social networks.
It is for shame that in the year 2023, children are still being exposed to and poisoned by lead in the wealthiest city in the richest country on earth. pic.twitter.com/l1cM4zigaj
— NYC Council Member Alexa Avilés (@NYCCouncil38) April 25, 2023
Poisoning is considered when blood levels of this element are equal to or greater than 5 mcg.
“The city has failed us, despite overwhelming evidence of where these buildings are,” said NYC Comptroller Brad Lander.
“We also want to start creating a registry, where we can document the buildings that have this dust and historically there are many buildings from the 1960s that have this contamination,” said Illapa Sairitupac, NYC tenant organizer.
However, Mayor Eric Adams maintains that the city has reduced lead exposure in children by 93% since 2005.
Armed with their banners, the protesters entered the municipal plenary session where councilor Pierina Ana Sánchez led a hearing on how to apply the laws and force landlords to comply with them.
“Three thousand children, mostly Latino and African American, from poor homes and families are exposed to lead each year, how can we do better? This is not acceptable and we need to do a better job for children,” said Councilwoman Sanchez.
Among the proposals of the municipal council is to identify children in time through blood tests to find out if they have been exposed to lead and to be able to care for them before it is too late.
For his part, Mayor Adams has appointed a new official in charge of supervising and coordinating compliance with the regulations.
2023-04-25 21:17:00
#Landlords #demand #compliance #law #removing #walls #lead #paint
