WP: More DC Kids have elevated lead than stated (CDC can't count)

[Guest guest]

Gee, CDC can't count lead poisoning either ...

More D.C. Kids Had Elevated Lead Than Stated

By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

More than twice as many D.C. children as previously reported by federal and

local health officials had high levels of lead in their blood amid the city's

drinking water crisis, according to congressional investigators, throwing into

doubt assurances by those officials that the lead in tap water did not seriously

harm city children.

The new information was uncovered by a House subcommittee investigating the

federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's performance and has raised

congressional concern about whether the agency properly alerted District

residents to a health risk from unprecedented levels of lead in the water.

Local officials could not say Monday whether some children with unsafe lead

exposure have gone without intervention to reduce health risks.

The CDC and city health department had reported dangerously high lead levels in

193 children in 2003, the worst year for high concentrations of lead in city tap

water. But lab data gathered by congressional investigators this year show that

the actual number was 486 children.

The subcommittee's investigators uncovered the higher figures by seeking the

data directly from all D.C. labs that analyze local test results. After the lead

problem became public in 2004, blood tests from thousands of city children taken

in 2003 were inexplicably missing from D.C. government files.

Using the partial data, the CDC, the nation's leading public health agency, and

the D.C. Department of Health published a paper reporting that they were not

finding a significant increase in children with dangerous lead levels.

" There is no indication that DC residents have blood lead levels above the CDC

levels of concern, " Brown, the CDC's top lead poisoning prevention

official, wrote in a summary of her paper. She wrote the report with the

Department of Health in March 2004 after residents and Congress learned about

the lead problem.

Brown stressed at the time that from 2001 to 2004, blood lead levels among the

city's children and adults were generally dropping as levels in the city's water

were rising.

The 2003 data on blood tests for children were considered critical in measuring

whether a widespread spike in lead in the city's drinking water had harmed

children's health. That year, the city found tens of thousands of city homes

with elevated lead in the water. It was not until 2004 that the public was

alerted to the problem and many residents began protecting themselves and their

children by switching to filtered or bottled water. Since then, the city has

changed its water treatment. Lead levels have fallen and are at historical lows.

Rep. Brad (D-N.C.), chairman of the investigations and oversight

subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee, which is conducting

the inquiry, said the new findings raise questions about the CDC's performance.

" Parents thought that they didn't have to worry about lead in their children's

drinking water because they trusted CDC, " said. " The CDC can't lend their

credibility simply to assure the public that there is nothing to worry about. If

they say everything is fine, then everything better really be fine. "

In letters sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and

D.C. Mayor M. Fenty (D) on Monday evening, requested more agency

documents. He said the CDC should have known it had " wildly incomplete " data

when it published research that " suggested there was no danger to children and

the public from elevated lead levels in the water. "

" The disparity in the numbers reported by the CDC and the data obtained by the

subcommittee is extraordinarily disturbing, " wrote, adding that the

missing data " should have set off warning bells that the CDC could not rely on

the numbers being provided for public health statements. "

In a written statement, CDC officials declined to comment on the new data,

saying they had not seen it.

Fenty's office released a statement saying: " The Administration looks forward to

receiving the findings of the congressional investigation related to the 2003

lead reporting between DOH and the CDC and, once reviewed, we will use its

findings to better serve D.C. residents. "

Recent research at Children's National Medical Center indicates that children

who lived in neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of lead in the water

-- Capitol Hill, Columbia Heights and northern sections of Ward 4 -- were much

more likely to have elevated lead in their bloodstream.

Blood test results are collected when doctors and labs report the results to the

city health department, which monitors children to try to reduce their exposure

to lead. Fetuses and children younger than 6 are particularly vulnerable to lead

exposure, and high levels can cause a permanent loss in IQ, motor coordination

and the ability to communicate.

In 2001 and 2002, the health department had collected results from 16,042

children and 15,755 children, respectively. But in 2003, results from only 9,229

children were on file with the department.

After the lead problem was reported in January 2004, Brown and her deputies from

the CDC questioned city health officials about why they had fewer tests. They

responded that some labs did not report test results of low lead levels. Brown

told The Washington Post this year that she believed that the missing data would

probably not affect the findings in her paper because they did not involve high

lead readings.

On Monday, CDC officials said that Brown did not ask for the data because labs

are required to report to the District. " CDC has no authority to require that

laboratories report directly to it, " according to the CDC statement.

Rosen, a pediatric expert on lead and the head of the lead-poisoning

prevention program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, expressed surprise

that officials drew conclusions based on data they knew was incomplete and did

not seek the missing data from the labs.

" This is unacceptable science, and it's unacceptable public health, and the

losers are the children who may suffer a lifetime from elevated lead exposure, "

he said.

The 2003 test results suggested that the incidence of dangerous lead exposure

was falling in the District, a decline cited in a Washington University

paper.

, the chairman of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority board, said

that he could not comment about data he had not seen or how health agencies

performed in 2003 but that he is eager to learn more about the House panel's

findings.

" If this is true -- that there are a lot more kids with elevated lead -- it's of

great concern to us, " said. " We're going to look at the data and see what

the committee comes out with in their investigation and respond accordingly. "