Lead poisoning causes serious, permanent damage, and it affects many people in New Jersey. The primary sources of childhood lead exposure are deteriorated leaded paint, and the soil and dust that it contaminates in and around old housing. Although the number of homes with lead-based paint continues to decline, the latest findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 1.6% of all children between the ages of one and five in the United States, approximately 310,000 children, have dangerous levels of lead in their bodies.

Children from poor families are more likely to be lead poisoned than those from higher income families. There are more than 700,000 people in New Jersey living below the federal poverty level, and an additional million residents who live below 200% of the federal poverty level, which advocates consider the true poverty level in the state. Most low-income New Jersey residents are concentrated in the state’s urban areas, where the risk of lead poisoning is high.

Lead blood levels also remain higher for children in minority populations. The blood lead levels of non-Hispanic black children from one to five years old are significantly higher than the blood lead levels in non-non-Hispanic white children. Federal rules require states’ Medicaid programs to test poor children in the program for lead poisoning at 12 months of age and again at two years (and between 36 and 72 months, if the child was not screened at 12 or 14 months). However, a recent report by the New Jersey Department of Human Services indicates that only 53 percent of such children in New Jersey have been tested.

Laws give you rights to a safe home. When you know your rights, you can seek to enforce them. Laws require owners of most housing in which children with dangerous blood lead levels live to remove the lead hazard within a short period of time. In some situations, landlords must pay for families to be housed in another location while the lead hazard is being removed. Removing lead paint is extremely dangerous. Recent state regulations describe how to remove paint properly. With information about lead paint removal, you can help safeguard yourself and your family.