Lead can make children develop more slowly, especially children under age six, the Governor warned. And it can have a lasting impact on their ability to succeed in school and in later life. We have made tremendous progress in identifying the areas where the lead problem is most severe, O Bannon added. Now we re taking an important step to help parents there reduce the risk to their children. With him were John M. Hamilton, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and State Health Commissioner Richard D. Feldman, M.D., whose agencies will coordinate the project.
Lead poisoning is totally preventable.
Now we have the information to better respond to the problem, Commissioner Hamilton said. That information comes from the state-sponsored lead screening of more than 107,000 Hoosier children. The testing found the greatest problem in Marion County, where more than 20 percent of the tested children had lead levels above the safe limits. It was nearly 15.5 percent in Saint Joseph County and 15 percent in Lake County. The children with the high levels were concentrated in older urban neighborhoods.