Blaz: Now we will test kids for poison

In response to the Daily News investigation Friday, Mayor de Blasio offered free blood-lead tests for some children living in public housing. De Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie issued a brief statement emphasizing that “the repainting taking place from here forward is being done by workers and vendors with the proper training.” She said that City Hall “out of an abundance of caution” will pay to test blood-lead levels of all children living in apartments that were cleaned up and repainted after 2016 inspections “before this improved training was in place.” The News reported that workers inspecting apartments for lead paint and those tasked with cleaning them up properly have been mandated by the federal government to obtain certificates showing they know what they’re doing. NYCHA admitted that they only started making inspectors follow that requirement in mid-2016. Clean-up workers only began following the requirement in August. The News also reported that Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd had asked NYCHA to test his workers back in 2016 after news of a federal investigation of the authority emerged. On Friday Lapeyrolerie said going forward, “We will also work with NYCHA to offer testing to any workers involved."