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An I-Team 8 Report
State Drops the Ball on Lead Poisoning Tests


Roarke


Dr. Bruce Lanphear


By Karen Hensel

Children in Indiana are not being protected when it comes to a simple test.
I-Team 8 investigates why children are being lead poisoned and at times brain
damaged unknowingly.

Quinn and his three-year-old brother Roarke live in a home full of lead based
paint.

"The soil, the ducts, windows, you name it, it is everywhere,” said Brandi
Ireland, the boys’ mother.

Roarke was lead-poisoned within just two months of moving into their Franklin
home. "Every time he touches something it's like, ‘Oh ,don't touch
that,’” said Ireland.

Roarke was sucking his thumb – a typical habit for a three-year-old, but in
this case, it’s poisoning him.  He is among the thousands of Indiana children
being poisoned within their own homes.  

The Ireland home was tested by Greentree Environmental.  Like most curious
toddlers, Roarke often stands at the window, which stretches nearly to the
floor. The windowsill is a potential hazard. "It's a chewable surface because
it is so low a child can get up here and gnaw on it while teething,” said Bob
Hallmen, Greentree.

Dr. Bruce Lanphear of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital is one of the
country’s top lead researchers. "The way we protect children from being
lead-poisoned is we let them live in houses and then we test them,” said Dr.
Lanphear.

Medicaid Children Don't Get Tested
That test is a blood test to detect lead poisoning. But I-Team 8 has found few
of the children on Medicaid are getting the federally required tests. In fact,
less than nine percent in Indiana are getting the tests.  The federal
government requires 100 percent.

"8.9 percent is a shame,” said Tom Neltner, Improving Kids’ Environment,
who has been fighting for five years to make changes.

It gets worse, because *****eighty percent***** of the children that are
severely lead-poisoned are on Medicaid. They live in poorer neighborhoods where
lead paint is likely.

"The managed care organizations when it comes to lead seem to be more managed
cost organizations. Their focus is on reducing the cost and not providing the
required care,” said Neltner.

"The federal government requires that case management and the investigation
into the home be paid for out of Medicaid. That was 1999 that was ordered and
Indiana Medicaid has fought that ever since,” said Neltner.

Some states like Missiouri and Wisconsin have sued HMO's for failing to test
Medicaid children. The HMO's get paid to conduct the tests.

In testimony to the joint select commission on Medicaid oversight, Neltner
testified "despite requests...since 2000, Indiana Medicaid has failed to take
action..."

"Children will continue to be poisoned and not reach their full potential
because they are not identified as poisoned," he testified.

It wasn't until state Representative Bill Crawford, who leads the commission,
demanded answers.

Changes may be in place by January insuring every Medicaid child is tested for
lead poisoning. It is an important step when you consider 80 percent of the
severe lead poisoning cases are children on Medicaid.

"Children can be mentally retarded, or you lose motor control of hands and feet
- more stumbling you see with the kids but that is the level where the damage
to the brain has already been done,” said Neltner.

The federal government says all lead should be eliminated by 2010. Experts tell
us it is not likely and there are issues with federal funding.

I-Team 8 has uncovered congressional calls for an investigation into the
Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington.

The calls came after Indiana submitted nine applications for federal money for
lead-poisoning prevention grants and was shut out on all nine.

HUD’s review process is being called "seriously flawed.” I-Team 8 has
learned the contractor actually found reviewers through the Internet at
Monster.com. These reviewers control 168 million federal dollars.
 
Senators Lugar, Bayh and Congresswoman Carson are demanding answers.

Meanwhile, one Denver company received two million dollars in federal funds. It
turns out a HUD investigation found one of AIMCO's subsidiaries recently
"misused over $400,000" in other federal dollars.

Meanwhile, more moms like Brandi Ireland are taking action. "It's their moral
obligation if not legal to tell me,” she said. Ireland is now suing the
realtor who sold her the home she now lives in for not disclosing, by federal
law, the home may have lead paint hazards.

"What am I going to do? It will cost me $20,000 more to clean it up than what I
paid for it,” she said.

Nicole Gaunt is the lead case manager in Allen County, the only position of its
kind in the state because she works long-term in the homes with the lead
poisoned children.

"By the time you realize the kid is damaged, you just try to pick up what
pieces are left and put it together the best you can,” said Gaunt.

No matter what happens, Roarke’s mom knows the damage has already been done.
"He doesn't pay attention sometimes. Most of the time in preschool he's sitting
there playing and the other kids are watching the teacher and singing songs and
he is off in his own little world over here,” she said.

There is a lead safety conference next week on Nov. 9th and 10th to educate
contractors and health officials on how to make every Hoosier home a healthy
one.

New Friday night at 11:00 pm: What may have been most surprising to me in this
investigation: most of the kids in juvenile jail were lead poisoned as
children. It is a clear indication of what lead poisoning is doing to our
children and their lives.

The Poison Within

An I-Team 8 Report
"Experts" Often in the Dark About Lead-Based Paint Dangers

Their own doctor told them not to worry. She'd never seen a lead-poisoned
child. Meanwhile, their daughter Emma was being lead poisoned.

(Where oh where have I heard ths before???) She never seen one because she
never looked!)