Louise Slaughter: “first I want to give my thanks to Chairman Olver and to Mr. Knollenberg for doing a wonderful job on this bill. I intend…”

“first I want to give my thanks to Chairman Olver and to Mr. Knollenberg for doing a wonderful job on this bill. I intend to withdraw this amendment, but if I can just take a moment or two to discuss the importance of HUD's Office of Lead Hazard Control, I would like to do that. The funding is crucial in reaching our goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning nationwide by 2010. The grants provided by HUD's Office of Lead Hazard Control allow cities and States to correct serious lead hazard in low-income and high-risk homes. Make no mistake, Mr. Chairman, this is not just an isolated problem. Lead poisoning affects over 250,000 American children under the age of 5 each and every year. High levels of lead in the blood have been linked to childhood asthma, brain damage, hearing loss, hyperactivity, developmental delays, and in extreme cases, exposure to lead has caused seizures, comas, and even death. Mr. Chairman, this is simply unacceptable. In my district alone, over 2,000 children fall victim to lead poisoning every year. Over half of all the homes in Niagara and Erie counties were built before 1950 and are therefore very likely to contain lead. And just in Erie County, 1,000 children have unsafe lead levels in their blood. The city of Rochester is among the top 10 cities in the United States with the worst lead paint problems. In 2004, 900 children in Monroe County were reported to have high blood lead levels.”