In 2004, New York City enacted Local Law 1 (LL1), the most ambitious lead poisoning prevention law in the country, with the stated goal of ending childhood lead poisoning by 2010. LL1 has had an enormous positive impact: according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) the number of children under age 6 with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) declined from some 37,344 during 2005 to just 3,050 in 2019.

Nevertheless, our city’s children continue to needlessly suffer permanent neurological damage from exposure to lead-based paint and lead dust in their homes. Moreover, childhood lead poisoning disproportionately impacts children of color and low-income in New York City. As of 2019, 82% of children under age six with EBLLs were Black, Latino/a/x, or Asian. 67% of the children were also in high-poverty neighborhoods. Preventing lead poisoning is a matter of environmental and racial justice.

In 2018, four of the undersigned advocacy organizations issued a report titled “Lead Loopholes – How Lax Enforcement of New York City’s Lead Paint Poisoning Prevention Laws Lets Landlords off the Hook and Leaves Children at Risk” calling for measures to strengthen the enforcement of LL1. Since that time, the Council has enacted several measures to close many of those loopholes.

Despite progress made through recent legislation, New York will not achieve its goal of eliminating lead poisoning in children without taking additional steps to strengthen the city’s policies and programs. The NYC Lead Poisoning Prevention Roundtable has developed the following policy agenda of steps city leaders must take in 2022 to eliminate childhood lead poisoning.