lead poisoning
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Lawmakers need to take action by creating criminal penalties to make sure predators don't target lead victims with quick payments. - A Chevy Chase company that made millions of dollars from deals with victims of lead poisoning targeted an “entire generation of youth coming of age in Baltimore” with its deceptive practices, Maryland’s top law enforcement official alleges.
- In the course of two years, the Baltimore Health Department wasted $170,000 it raised by fining landlords for lead paint violations and charging attorneys to access records for lead lawsuits, an investigation by the city’s inspector general found.
- The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as the Maryland Department of the Environment reported more frequent testing for the neurotoxin. The number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood meanwhile held steady.
- Childhood lead poisoning cases in Maryland decreased last year to the lowest levels since 1994 when a new law required it to be tracked, according to a state report released today.
- The state has received $6.3 million in federal funding to start an initiative they hope will reduce lead poisoning and asthma rates, particularly when related to poor housing conditions. The programs will also receive $860,000 in state funding in addition to the federal money.
- Ben Carson understands the link between health and housing, says Ruth Ann Norton
- The $1.3 million a jury awarded Chauncey Liles Jr. for lead poisoning is in jeopardy due to a legal dispute between a London-based insurance company and Liles' former landlord.
- State officials are investigating an allegation that a British insurance company is conspiring to prevent lead poisoning victims in Baltimore from recovering damages.
- Maryland Department of the Environment data show that during Gov. Larry Hogan's first full year in office, the number of cases regulators referred to the attorney general for enforcement dropped by a startling 18 percent. This decrease exacerbated a slide begun in the final years of the O'Malley administration. Altogether, MDE referrals dropped an unacceptable 35 percent over the past three years. Air pollution case referrals decreased by more than 50 percent, lead poisoning prevention referrals
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- Maryland's attorney general urged lawmakers on Thursday to give his office the ability to regulate deals offered by businesses that buy legal settlements at steep discounts from lead poisoning victims, such as Baltimore's Freddie Gray.
- The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has focused attention on the poor state of our nation's infrastructure. Specifically, Flint is dealing with water poisoned with lead after traveling through old lead pipes. Arthur Delaney, reporting for The Huffington Post, found that this problem is not limited to the people of Flint and that "there are millions of lead pipes all across America, putting children at risk of stunted growth, brain damage and a lifetime of diminished potential. Just this week,
- Though tens of thousands of rental homes in Baltimore may have dangerous lead paint, city workers can inspect only 235 such units a year, a top housing official testified Thursday. At a City Hall hearing called in response to a Baltimore Sun investigation, government officials and others agreed with deputy housing commissioner Ken Strong that the city and state lack the money and manpower to enforce the system Maryland has set up to protect children from the dangers of deteriorating lead-based
- Though tens of thousands of rental homes in Baltimore may have dangerous lead paint, city workers can inspect only 235 such units a year, a top housing official testified Thursday.
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- State officials are sending letters to nearly 400 families urging them to consult a doctor after discovering 'invalid' lead-free certificates and launching a wide-ranging investigation in jurisdictions throughout central and southern Maryland.
- Maryland lawmakers are vowing to investigate and clamp down on companies that "buy" lawsuit settlements after learning that hundreds of Baltimore lead poisoning victims had signed away their court-approved rights to long-term financial support in return for quick cash worth only a fraction of what they were due overall.
- Baltimore health inspectors found elevated levels of lead in cheap children's jewelry in two Canton stores last month, highlighting an ongoing concern over the potential for lead poisoning from a source parents may not expect.
