FOR DECADES, as many as 7,000 Baltimore children were exposed to lead paint poisoning every year. Many of them needed a painful hospital treatment that was, in some cases, too late to prevent irreversible damage.
Laws were passed to protect these children, but little was done to prosecute landlords who failed to make their properties lead-safe. During the 1990s, not a single lawsuit was filed in Baltimore to force compliance with a law that would have been effective -- if used.
Every child who falls prey to toxic lead dust or paint chips can suffer impaired brain and nervous system development. Poor school performance and delinquency often result.
This urgent gospel went unheard for years. Ruth Ann Norton and the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, which she directs, were on the barricades virtually alone. Del. Samuel I. "Sandy" Rosenberg was there, working to find legal solutions in Annapolis. Lawyer Clinton Bamberger of Baltimore labored passionately along with them.
Two years ago, more newspaper articles -- recounting once again the damage done to infants and children -- resulted in a confluence of state and local actions: Gov. Parris N. Glendening committed an additional $15 million to various initiatives, including enforcement. Mayor Martin O'Malley committed his new administration to meeting the problem head on.
The results are impressive.
The number of Baltimore children tested for lead poisoning has risen sevenfold, and the number of kids found to have lead poisoning is down 24 percent. The rate of hospitalization for severe cases has fallen 46 percent. Almost 400 landlords have been prosecuted.
Enforcement coupled with financial assistance for those who want to do the right thing has always been the answer to this problem. These results prove it.
Finally, a thoroughgoing system seems to be in place under the direction of Mayor O'Malley and Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, Baltimore's health commissioner.
Of course, more needs to be done. At least 32,000 rental units in the city remain lead paint hazards.
Soon, the city will have issued more than $5 million in repair grants to property owners, most of them homeowners, so they can remove hazards from 500 more houses. Each lead-safe house must surely save the promise of at least one young life.
What a bargain.