GALVESTON — A task force studying island lead contamination has operated under the assumption that one in five island children tested has lead poisoning, but that might not be true.
The assumption was based on records held by the Galveston County Health District, which apparently were not complete.
Last month, health district officials discovered several lead testing labs had reported results to the state but had not passed the information along to the county. Those data have never been included in studies estimating the island’s poisoning rate.
Officials with the health district and the University of Texas Medical Branch are analyzing the new data to see whether it makes a difference in the poisoning rate. They don’t know whether it will increase or decrease the rate.
“Given the additional data we have access to, we want to do a population assessment of what the lead levels are,” Lexi Nolan, director of health policy and planning at the medical branch’s Center to Eliminate Health Disparities, said.
“We want to see if that set of data is sufficient to make a judgment about whether there’s a lead problem in Galveston or not. If we don’t have enough data, we need to make sure we can get it.”
Local health officials are trying to get a sense of whether they need to screen additional children to get a more comprehensive set of data to work with, Nolan said.
Screening Efforts
The task force was formed late last year after Baylor College of Medicine researchers released a report on lead poisoning in Galveston. Using geographical information system modeling and data from the health district, researchers created a map that predicts the properties most likely to have lead contamination.
The report found high numbers of lead poisoning cases on the island, something local officials have known about since the early 1990s.
Lead poisoning, even in small amounts, causes learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders and behavioral problems. The damage is irreversible but the effects can be limited with educational therapies.
Many of the task force’s priorities are based on recommendations made in the Baylor report, including the need to make sure all island children 5 years old and younger are screened.
Medical branch officials are trying to streamline the screening process by evaluating all blood samples locally, instead of sending some of them to state labs.
Having all tests analyzed in one place will make it easier for local officials to improve reporting, track which children have been screened and better assess how each case needs to be followed up, Nolan said.
It will also help the task force get an accurate count of how many children are suffering from lead poisoning.
Working with the Galveston Independent School District, task force members hope to pair screening initiatives with school activities.
Still Highest In State
Although the percentage of poisoning cases might change after the newly discovered test results are included, Galveston’s rate will still be higher than any other jurisdiction in the state, Mark Guidry, Galveston County health authority, predicted.
Galveston’s lead poisoning cases are currently thought to be six times higher than the state average.
While the health department’s epidemiologist is working to analyze the additional testing data, the rest of Guidry’s staff is busy filling out grant applications and working with other local entities to crack down on property owners whose houses have lead contamination.
The most exciting new initiative is an agreement between the health district and the Galveston Housing Authority to cross-reference poisoning cases with owners of properties eligible for the federal rental voucher program, Guidry said.
Federal rules require landlords to notify tenants of lead-based paint hazards.
Health district officials also have turned over a list of locations for lead poisoning cases to Housing and Urban Development officials, who are investigating the possibility some property owners knew of contamination but did not notify tenants or buyers.
Baylor researchers discovered that 20 percent of the properties occupied by families with lead-poisoned children were owned by just 12 landlords. Last month, the Texas attorney general ruled that the health district could not release the landlords’ names or the addresses of the properties because the information might be used to identify children with lead poisoning.
City officials are working on a grant application for federal funds to create a program to remove lead from homes owned by low-income families.
The city also hopes to start testing public parks for lead contamination this month, Alicia Cahill, the city’s public information officer, said.
The city plans to use new testing equipment the health district is buying with a grant it received last week from the Kempner Foundation.
