Most governments outlawed lead paint at that time. But the U.S. government waited until 1978. As a result, they say, hundreds of thousands of children exposed to dangerously high levels of lead are neither tested nor treated. Medicaid recipients are three times as likely as other children to have high amounts of lead in their blood. Cost is not the main reason for the failure to test children, health officials say.
Officials cite more complex reasons for the low rates of testing.
Many doctors do not see lead exposure as a problem for their patients and therefore do not believe tests are necessary, or they are unaware of the federal requirements. In addition, many poor children do not go to the doctor until they are sick, and most children with high levels of lead in the blood display no obvious symptoms at first. The government has been concentrating its efforts on testing buildings-not children. Once the minimal abatement was accomplished, the responsibilities and liability to protect children from lead was shifted to the parent-eliminating the liability of the landlord and the lead paint companies. If I poisoned someone, I would be arrested and sent to prison for murder or attempted murder.