LETTERS

I AM WRITING TO EXPRESS MY CONCERN regarding your recent article, “Lead Dread” (December). While it is fair to ask critical, probing questions, it is a disservice to your readers to publish inaccurate and misrepresented information. Readers deserve full information and context rather than speculation and assumptions. In Milwaukee, we have put childhood lead poisoning prevention as one of our top priorities for more than 20 years. The city has invested more than $50 million into the work, resulting in a 90 percent decline in blood lead levels at 10 micrograms per deciliter or higher and a 69.3 percent decline in blood lead levels at 5 micrograms or higher. Yet we have more work to do. That is why we have clearly stated the importance of controlling lead hazards in our community and have continued our work to support property owners in making homes leadsafe. We have called on federal agencies to support this work and have urged the state of Wisconsin to take this as an issue of statewide concern – as the existence of lead paint hazards and lead service lines does not stop at Milwaukee’s borders. We will continue to share our progress and our challenges, and we will continue to put accurate public information ahead of all else. We ask you to do the same.

EDITOR’S NOTE: While the city has worked for many years to reduce lead poisoning caused by lead paint, it has only very recently begun to focus heavily on lead contamination from water pipes. This work has largely coincided with concern over the Flint, Mich., crisis and comes years after an official downplayed the concern in a 1989 issue of the Wisconsin Medical Journal.