BY TIMOTHY LA ROCHE
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CLAREMONT — More than four months after a law to prevent childhood lead poisoning went into effect, county and state officials are pushing for expanded lead poisoning education.
Officials from the Sullivan County Conservation District and the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority will host an education session for residents on Tuesday at the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center aimed at detailing the changes and opportunities presented by an act to curb lead poisoning. The act, which was signed into law in Claremont on Feb. 8, strengthens lead testing protocols across the state.
For the event, program manager Christine LaVallee of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority is scheduled to open with a short presentation at 5:45 p.m. about what the law requires of homeowners and landlords, the kinds of assistance available and how the law will be enforced.
Her talk is scheduled to be immediately followed by Sullivan County Director of Natural Resources Lionel Chute’s presentation on lead in the soil, a topic aimed at gardeners as well as parents with young children.
The event will run concurrently with a multi-year city initiative to remove lead and reduce its poisonous effects. Already, officials from the Department of Public Works have removed much of the lead piping from the city’s water lines, but lead paint remains a major source of the poisoning in the city.
The state has the oldest housing stock in the country, with more than 62 percent of homes built before lead paint was banned in 1978.
The state sees about 880 cases of childhood lead poisoning each year. Claremont’s housing stock is among the oldest in the state, with more than 80 percent of the housing stock older than 1978.
Lead is absorbed into bones, disrupting the body’s development.
The blood-brain barrier does not exist at a young age, making infants more susceptible to the effects of lead poisoning.
The effects can manifest later in life as poor impulse control, behavioral problems and cognitive disabilities.
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