Health agency covered up lead harm

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention withheld evidence that
contaminated tap water caused lead poisoning in kids.

By Rebecca Renner, Salon.com

April 10, 2009 | From 2001 to 2004, Washington, D.C., experienced what
may have been the worst lead contamination of city water on record.
Tens of thousands of homes had sky-high levels of lead at the tap, and
in the worst cases, tap water contained enough lead to be classified as
hazardous waste. Not that the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the government oversight agency for public health, was
worried.

A 2004 CDC report found that water contamination "might have
contributed a small increase in blood lead levels." The study has been
influential. School officials in New York and Seattle have used the CDC
report as justification for not aggressively responding to high levels
of lead in their water, and other cities have cited the report to
dispel concerns about lead in tap water.

But the results of thousands of blood tests that measured lead
contamination in children were missing from the report, potentially
skewing the findings and undermining public health. Further, the CDC
discovered in 2007 that many young children living in D.C. homes with
lead pipes were poisoned by drinking water and suffered ill effects.
Parents wondered whether the water could have caused speech and balance
problems, difficulty with learning, and hyperactivity. Yet the health
agency did not publicize the new findings or alert public health
authorities in D.C. or other federal agencies that regulate lead, such
as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or Housing and Urban
Development...

The House Science and Technology Committee Investigations and Oversight
Subcommittee is beginning an investigation into CDC's handling of the
D.C. lead crisis. Subcommittee chair Brad Miller, D-N.C., wrote the CDC
on March 13, requesting all "records that indicate possible, probable
or actual forgery, fabrication or other intentional misrepresentation
of data," concerning lead in the water.

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Posted By Jeff Sutherland to Dr. Jeff Sutherland's Electronic Medicine
at 4/13/2009 01:11:00 PM