September 23, 2022 

Childhood Lead Poisoning in the Chicago Area:  The Latest Evidence and Public Health Approaches  

How do we continue to correct the problem? 

This program is part of the Public Health, Population Health, and Community Health – Reducing Health Disparities series. 

Virtual Meeting 

12:00 PM CT - 1:00 PM CT  

Complimentary- Open to All 

CEU 1.0 

A confirmation is sent immediately upon registration with the virtual link for the day of the event, if you do not receive it, please contact us at iomcstaff@iomc.org. 

Urban soils contaminated with lead contribute to elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) in young children. A systematic manner addressing soil contamination is needed here. Overall efforts to reduce lead blood levels in at-risk populations will continue to fall short, and significant health and social consequences of lead poisoning will continue to manifest until there is a effective protocol. 

Chicago has hot spots where lead, including in soil, is a potential danger to children and others. Potential lead exposure is a pressing issue that requires attention to avoid health issues. Reducing lead exposure is especially important if you have a garden.  In addition, the air and environment may have an elevated lead level contributing to and creating overall lead exposure. 

This session will discuss some roadblocks to comprehensively addressing childhood lead exposure and provide a few good examples of where/how LARC has taken action and achieved quantifiable results. In addition, the virtual program will present information on hot spots and zip codes.

The panel will discuss why the "evidence and discussion" is significant, highlighting the latest EPA agenda, and provide information on the public sector's steps to help address the overall lead exposure problem.

By attending this session you will be able to:

• Explain why childhood lead poisoning has not been eliminated with the banning of lead in gasoline.
• Identify current barriers of lead sources in soil and water.
• Cite some of the practical measures that are or can be implemented from a regulatory and best practice approach (on elevated lead levels and lead in soil).

Don't miss this session. Walk away with steps you can immediately implement in your community.

Panel 

Moderator: Caswell Evans, DDS, MPH - Former Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, Chicago College of Dentistry Illinois, and Billings Fellow, IOMC

Shirley Conibear, MD, MPH,FACPM - Board-certified physician in Family Medicine and Occupational Medicine, Epidemiologist, Senior Scientist; Vice President, The LARC Foundation, and Adjunct Faculty, University of Illinois, School of Public Health.

Brian Svazas, MD, MPH  - Occupational and Environmental Medicine Physician; Board Member, The LARC Foundation, and Fellow, IOMC

Debra Shore -  Regional Administrator, EPA Region 5 and Great Lakes National Program Manager, US Environmental Protection Agency

The Lead Abatement Resource Center (LARC)

The Lead Abatement Resource Center (LARC), founded in 2014, is a nonprofit private foundation focusing on eliminating lead exposure, primarily in soil, through awareness, education, research, and implementation of primary prevention programs as a Foundation and with cooperative strategic partnerships. In addition to LARC Foundation’s initiatives, it supports charitable activities through grants to organizations or individuals for research, scientific and educational purposes consistent with its mission and priorities. LARC is a 501c3 nonprofit association. For more information, visit www.larcusa.org. 

Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 

EPA Region 5 is serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 Tribes. For more information, visit this page.

Suggested  Reading

Ritchie, H. Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning. What can we do to reduce this? Our World in Data, Jan.25, 2022 

Gupta,S, Srinivasan, G, Ying, Shan-Ching.  Trends & Zipcodes associated with Lead Poisoning in Chicago. What level is safe? American Academy of Pediatrics, May 2018. 

Doctrow, B. Racial segregation makes consequences of lead exposure worse. NIH Research Matters. August 2022.

Questions? Contact the IOMC office by email at iomcstaff@iomc.org. 

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