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When Mrs. Nolasco found out her grandchildren were suffering from lead poisoning, she took her case for better lead laws all the way to city hall.

Maria Celia Nolasco is raising three grandchildren who were poisoned by lead. She lives in Bushwick, a neighborhood of Brooklyn that is part of New York City's "lead belt," a swath of housing plagued by highly toxic lead-based paint. Many children in her community suffer from lead poisoning, which causes permanent brain damage that leads to learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

"Lead poisoning has been devastating to the children, to me and to our entire family," said Mrs. Nolasco.

Working with community organizer Manuel Castro of Make the Road by Walking, a Bushwick based organization, Nolasco and other community leaders, along with Sierra Club's local Environmental Justice Committee, joined with the New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning (a network of medical doctors, labor unions, and environmental, tenant and low income housing groups). They advocated for a stronger city law to prevent childhood lead poisoning.

Local activists had hoped the federal government would weigh in. In October 2002, the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) established a scientific advisory committee to consider strengthening the standard for lead poisoning, since new research showed that brain damage occurs at lower levels of exposure. But the Bush administration intervened. It rejected several experts that the CDC's own staff scientists had recommended for the committee in favor of people more likely to oppose tightening the standard. At least two of the new appointees had direct financial ties to the lead industry.1 Not surprisingly, the old standard has not changed.

Yet the community activists didn't and couldn't give up. In New York City, 94 percent of lead poisoning victims are children of color,2 and Bushwick has the city's highest rate of lead poisoning - 64.4 cases per thousand children. If the Bush administration had tightened the standard, the city would have been forced to act, but Mrs. Nolasco and her neighbors had to walk this road alone.

In February 2004, after hearing from Mrs. Nolasco and others, the New York City Council passed the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, even overturning the Mayor's veto. Still, slumlords claim that the law is unnecessary and it is not yet clear whether the city will enforce it.

"Lead poisoning has changed all of our lives for the worse," said Mrs. Nolasco. She urges government officials: "Please do your part to stop more kids from being poisoned."

There is a better way. If the federal government would acknowledge the strong science that calls for a tighter lead poisoning standard, it would be much easier for these dedicated families and organizations to persuade local lawmakers to take strong action to stop the scourge of lead poisoning.

For more information contact:

Make the Road by Walking
Manuel Castro
718-418-7690, ext. 225
manuel@maketheroad.org

Sierra Club
Suzanne Mattei
212.791.3600, ext. 35
suzanne.mattei@sierraclub.org

NYC Coalition to End Lead Poisoning
Cordell Cleare
212.543.0260, ext. 204
www.nmic.org/nyccelp.htm

1. Cohn, Jonathan , "The Lead Industry Gets Its Turn," The New Republic, December 23, 2002; Divis, Dee Ann Science & Tech. Ed., "2002 Yearend: Pols Want to Corral Science" UPI Special Report, Dec. 9, 2002.
2. "Do You Know Where the Lead Is? A Report on How Many NYC Children Were Lead Poisoned Between 1995 and 2000 and Where They Live," p. 2, NYPIRG, June 13, 2002.