Obama Introduces Legislation to Help Property Owners Safeguard Against Lead Hazards in the Home
Friday, November 18, 2005
Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Obama Contact: Robert Gibbs or Tommy Vietor, (202) 228-5511
Illinois Contact: Julian Green, (312) 886-3506
Date: November 18, 2005
Obama Introduces Legislation to Help Property Owners Safeguard Against Lead Hazards in the Home
Washington, DC - Today, Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced legislation providing a tax credit for safely removing lead-based paint hazards from homes and rental units. This bipartisan bill would provide needed incentives for property owners to ensure that homes are free of environmental hazards that can harm children.
"As both a father of two young daughters and a lawmaker, it pains me to think that each year nearly 28,000 children needlessly suffer from lead-paint poisoning," said Obama. "We need to take immediate action to protect our children by ensuring that dangerous lead-paint is cleaned up properly."
"This bill will help to achieve the federal government's established goal of eliminating toxic blood levels in young children by 2010. Exposure in the home is the number one source of lead for young children. By providing financial incentives to remove lead hazards from the home, exposure will be minimized and this disease, which is known to have incredibly harmful effects on child development, behavior and intelligence, can be prevented. We need to continue to work to end childhood lead poisoning and to ensure safe and healthy environments for our children," said Senator Clinton.
"As parents, we try to protect our kids as much as possible when they walk out the front door, when they're on the roads, or when they're on the playground with friends. But one of the biggest health risks to our kids can occur inside the home," said Senator DeWine. "Dangerous lead paint exposures are entirely preventable. It just makes sense that we encourage parents to remove this hazard and protect our children."
"Lead poisoning is all the more tragic because it is preventable," Smith said. "The homes where lead paint is most common are often the ones with families who lack the resources to remove it. It will take years to entirely remove this hazard, but we can get it done more quickly with a boost in financial support."
This bill would change the IRS code of 1986 to provide a tax credit for 50% of the allowable costs paid by the taxpayer, up to a maximum of $3000 for lead abatement and $1000 for interim control measures, which could include window replacement, safe repainting and specialized renovation work practices to reduce lead hazards. These are cost-effective means of protecting the largest number of children in the near term. The credit is targeted to homes with children younger than six years of age, women of childbearing age, low-income residents, and buildings built before 1960, as these include more than 96% of all units where lead-based paint is prevalent.
Lead is highly toxic and continues to be a major preventable environmental health threat especially to infants, children, and pregnant women in the United States. Lead poisoning can be deadly, and almost one million children nationwide have toxic lead levels in their blood, that can impair their growth and the function of vital organs and motor skills. The most common source of lead exposure for children today is lead paint in older housing and the contaminated lead dust it generates. Despite a ban on lead paint in 1978, there are still millions of housing units in the United States that contain lead-paint, especially in older homes.
Illinois has the highest lead poisoning rate in the nation. According to an Illinois Department of Public Health report, Illinois amounted to 20.5 percent of all elevated blood levels reported nationwide. The report also found that African-American children are more than three times as likely to suffer from elevated lead levels and Hispanic children are more than twice as likely to suffer from elevated lead levels.
In New York State, about five percent of children screened for lead poisoning at age two were found to have elevated blood lead levels, more than twice the national average. New York counties where kids are especially at risk include: Onondaga, Fulton, Monroe, Erie, and Oneida. Approximately 10,000 cases of childhood lead poisoning in New York are found each year. Minority and poor children are disproportionately at risk. For example, in New York City, about 95% of children with elevated blood levels were African-American, Hispanic or Asian.
Senator Clinton and her colleagues have a strong record of advocacy on environmental health issues. Earlier this year, Senators Clinton and DeWine introduced the Family Asthma Act, which seeks to increase research into the links between environmental pollutants and the growing epidemic of asthma. And yesterday, Senators Obama and Clinton introduced the Healthy Communities Act, which would establish Health Action Zones to address environmental health concerns in our nation's most affected communities. Senator Clinton has also introduced the bipartisan Coordinated Environmental Health Network Act to strengthen the environmental health tracking program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.