pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Peter J. Dotzauer) (07/20/90)
Index Number: 9348
Here is a partial transcript of a report that was aired 07/17/90
in ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings (most omissions
are short interviews with victims):
American Agenda: The Ravages of Lead Poisoning
(Peter Jennings)
The hazard of lead poisoning in children has been a matter of
public record for 20 years. A panel of experts at the Center for
Disease Control said today that its effects are far more
devastating than anyone suspected. They found that a child
poisoned at an early age even by lead dust is seven times more
likely to drop out of high school than other students. Here is
ABC's Kathleen DeLaski:
(Kathleen DeLaski)
It is considered the nation's number one toxic waste problem
affecting children.
...
It causes brain damage in as many as one out of six children.
...
16 (60?) million homes are putting families at risk.
...
The culprit is lead paint, ...
Lead paint was banned in 1977, but old layers remain beneath the
surface in most older homes. Now, studies show that even small
amounts, swallowed before age six, can damage a child
permanently.
(Dr. John Graef, Boston Children's Hospital)
If you have 10 or 15 percent of preschool children whose
intellectual potential has been impaired, I think that's a
national emergency.
(Kathleen DeLaski)
Thomas Greenblatt is having trouble in school 8 years after he
was poisoned. Doctors say lead is the reason he is two years
behind in reading, and one year behind in math.
...
Unitl recently, lead poisoning was considered an inner city
problem, affecting families in run-down houses with peeling
paint. But now, studies show that invisible lead dust is more
often the problem, and therefore, poor children are not the only
victims.
...
There are no symptoms to warn the parents.
...
Meanwhile, doctors who have studied the problem agreed today that
as many as 25 percent of all children are quietly suffering.
(end of report)
-=-
Peter Dotzauer, Analyt.Cart.& GIS, Dept.of Geogr., OSU, Columbus, OH 43210-1361
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