Public Health Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH'S RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING PREVENTION AND CONTROL
SUMMARY: This act lowers the blood lead level threshold at which local health directors must inform parents or guardians about (1) a child's potential eligibility for the state's Birth-to-Three program and (2) lead poisoning dangers, ways to reduce risks, and lead abatement laws.
Under existing law, local health directors must provide this information after receiving a report from a clinical laboratory or health care institution that a child has been tested with a blood lead level of at least 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (10 µg/dL) or any other abnormal body lead level. The act requires them to also provide this information when a child is known to have a confirmed venous blood lead level of at least five µg/dL.
The act specifies that the local health director must provide the information to the parent or guardian only once, after the director receives the initial report.
The act also makes technical changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2015
BACKGROUND
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Recommendation
In 2012, the CDC updated its recommendations on children's blood lead levels, defining five µg/dL as an elevated blood lead level. Previously, the CDC used the term “level of concern,” and defined that as 10 µg/dL.
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