Gov: Might test all NYCHA kids
Gov. Cuomo is aiming to set up a state-monitored program to offer lead tests to all kids who live in NYCHA buildings.
Cuomo told reporters Tuesday he has directed his health commissioner to study the possibility of creating an independent, state-supervised testing program, after it was revealed that more than 800 kids living in NYCHA apartments had elevated levels of lead in their blood.
“I think it is the right thing to do. I think the parent anxiety is very high. Lead poisoning is nothing to be trifled with,” Cuomo said after an unrelated event in the Bronx.
Cuomo said that new testing would be a “massive undertaking” and state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker will meet with city pols and tenant leaders to determine whether it’s feasible and how it would work.
The city is already offering free lead testing through its public hospitals. But Cuomo suggested parents living in public housing may not trust the results after city officials repeatedly changed their stories on the lead crisis.
“People are unsure what’s right, what’s wrong, who’s right, who’s wrong,” he said, adding it would “give the parents confidence for the state to bring in an independent testing agency that has no reason, no political motivation, no reason not to be 100% accurate and honest.”
“It’s the obvious solution,” he said. “Especially with what the NYCHA tenants have endured I think it’s the appropriate response.”
The Daily News revealed Sunday that since 2012, 820 children ages 5 and younger living in public housing tested positive for elevated lead levels of at least 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood, the level deemed concerning by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The city had previously used a more lenient standard of 10 micrograms, saying there were only 19 NYCHA kids with elevated lead levels.
Cuomo previously ordered a state monitor for NYCHA — which ended up being superseded by a federal monitor ordered after an investigation by the U.S. attorney — and has this year repeatedly visited NYCHA developments to needle his rival Mayor de Blasio about conditions there.
Lead tests would be voluntary, as the city’s current testing is.
“This would be a massive, massive undertaking. You’re talking about potentially hundreds of thousands of children. So the logistics of this situation would be formidable. We have to figure out how to do it,” the governor said. “I’m thinking as a parent. If you’re not sure whether or not your child was tested or whether or not the number was accurate, why not provide that comfort to the residents of NYCHA?”
De Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie called Cuomo’s comments “irresponsible,” and pointed out that other parts of the state have lead poisoning rates much higher than New York City’s.