EPA cracks down on lead dust. Indiana advocates say more is needed to help exposed children
IPB News
Published October 27, 2024 at 12:00 PM EDT
Provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Oct. 20-26 is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. The EPA encourages parents to get their children tested for lead — which is generally recommended between the ages of 1 and 2.
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule this week to protect kids from lead paint in homes and child care centers. Kids exposed to lead can have trouble learning, behavioral issues and poor kidney function.
Under the new Environmental Protection Agency standards, any level of lead in dust that could be detected by your average EPA-recognized lab would trigger a cleanup. The state estimates more than half of all homes in Indiana were built before lead paint was banned in the late 1970s.
The standards will likely increase costs for landlords who rent out older homes, but the EPA said they’ve had decades to remove lead paint. Gabriel Filipelli agrees. He's a professor who studies lead at Indiana University and directs the IU Environmental Resilience Institute.
“We've been dragging our feet on this. Yes, it's expensive. Good things are expensive to achieve sometimes. And in this case, good thing is to protect children from dust that’s sourced from lead-based paint," he said.
Garry Holland, education chair of the Indianapolis NAACP, said landlords have known about the issue of lead paint for decades — but so has the EPA. He said the government should do more to help the people who have already been exposed — like children who are struggling in school.
“Type of civilization do we have when we know that we are harming children and we do nothing about it?” Holland said.
Though Indiana and federal government have some money available for people who own their homes, it’s likely not enough to clean up all the lead. Filipelli said hopefully, with this new rule, the funding will follow.
Earlier this month, the city of Indianapolis received a more than $1.2 million federal grant to identify and clean up lead paint.
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Indianapolis Homicide Tracker driven by societal problems
In 2023, Indianapolis recorded 219 homicides showing another decrease from years prior.
It was the second straight year the city say a decrease, but was the fourth year in a row police have investigated more than 200 homicides.
Here's a look at the 2024 homicide data for Marion County.
While the city is making progress, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor stresses this modest decline from a staggering high isn't reason to celebrate.
"We know that each one of those lives represents a soul," Taylor said. "It represents someone's brother, sister, son, daughter, whatever. Someone that's important to somebody and those numbers have got to come down."
Officials believe the violence is driven by societal problems including poverty, lack of housing, lack of education and poor parenting.
"Those kinds of things certainly play a factor," Taylor said. "But we all know people who have come up and didn't have a whole lot of money, didn't have a great education, didn't have a lot of things going for them. It doesn't mean they turn around and commit violent acts of crime."
https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/2023-indianapolis-homicide-tracker