Chapter 5 - The Nation Acts: community organizing, a 10-year solution from the President’s Cabinet, and political sabotage

Abstract

Parents and community groups collaborated with scientists to address the lead paint problem by creating new political will that enabled local governments to apply for and implement grants to protect children from lead paint and to enact new policies. The number of such groups tripled from about a hundred in 1995 to 300 in 1999, many under the umbrella of United Parents Against Lead, the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, the National Center for Healthy Housing, churches, and environmental justice organizations, all of which increased press coverage and public awareness. A White House press conference launched a Campaign for a Lead Safe America, but it was hobbled due to interference from the the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary at the time, Andrew Cuomo. In 2000 a new Cabinet-level task force released a 10-year plan to eliminate lead paint poisoning as a major public health problem by 2010, together with an interagency budget for the first time and a cost-benefit analysis that showed economic benefits were far greater than costs. HUD Secretary Mel Martinez made lead paint a HUD priority, despite interference from the paint industry. His successor, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, attempted to disable HUD’s lead poisoning prevention program in 2004 but was rebuffed by parents, Congress, HUD staff housing, health and environment departments, scientists, and others across the country. A similar attempt at the elimination of the CDC lead program occurred in 2012 but was also rebuffed.