Childhood lead exposure costs Michigan about $300 million a year.
That's according to a report by the University of Michigan and the Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health.
They recommend lead remediation projects for around 100,000 houses throughout the state at a cost of $600 million. They say the program would pay for itself in three years.
Paul Haan is executive director of the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan. He says more remediation programs would be a good long-term investment for the state.
“At the end of the day we’re going to continue to pay the cost of the problem of lead poisoning if older housing is not remediated,” said Haan.
“So the question we really need to ask ourselves is do we want to pay the increased cost of suffering the consequences, or do we want to pay the lower cost of remediation?”
About 70% of childhood lead exposure comes from lead-based paint in older homes.
Earlier this week, the state Legislature approved an additional $500,000 for lead hazard control in next year’s state budget. The change is pending approval from the governor.
Haan says this shows that “public will is building and that state leadership recognizes the need for the kind of investments called for in the report.”
– Reem Nasr, Michigan Radio Newsroom