SEPTEMBER 24, 2007

COUNTY LEGISLATOR KONST, LEGISLATURE APPROVE LEAD POISONING PRIMARY PREVENTION PILOT PROGRAM

Erie County Legislator Kathy Konst (D-Lancaster, Elma) and the County Legislature overwhelmingly voted to accept a state grant for almost $400,000 to institute the Erie County Primary Prevention Childhood Lead Poisoning Pilot Program at the September 20 session.

The $398,616 grant will come from the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food Protection, Center of Environmental Health.

"The goal of the Erie County Primary Prevention Childhood Lead Poisoning Pilot Program is to identify and address lead hazards in high-risk zip codes in the county to prevent at-risk children from becoming lead poisoned," Legislator Konst said. "This will be done through neighborhood surveys, home paint inspections and lead risk assessments, providing services, distributing intervention products for hazard control and education and outreach for county property owners and tenants.

"Accepting the grant award will also authorize us to enter into an agreement with Environmental Education Specialists to provide periodic training courses for lead safe work practices and for clearance sampling, as well as implementing the pilot program," Legislator Konst, chair of the Personnel Committee, added. "All county personnel working on this program will be paid through the grant."

"With recent troubling international recalls of household products by companies such as Mattel, it is urgent that we take a proactive approach to lead poisoning in Erie County," Legislator Konst continued. "This is a prudent approach to a growing problem that we must attack head-on."

Back to District 5 Homepage