WNY's Paint Problems

AKA WNY Leads in Lead.

Pardon the Rocky & Bullwinkle reference.

I in no way mean to denigrate what has been intentionally done to Flint, MI by its corporate controlled overlords – the deliberate bankrupting of the city, impoverishment of its masses, and then the deliberate poisoning of its people – with lead and Legionnaires Disease. They knew what they were doing. And they (the mis-leadership) need to pay the price themselves to fix it up.

We beat Flint, in a bad way.

We suffer from worse cases of lead poisoning in our children – using NY standards – than Flint does.

It gets worse if you go by the Federal standards, which are much more stringent.

By NY standards (10 micrograms/decilitre):

-Erie County has a 14% rate of infection

-Chatauqua County has 12.3%
-Cattaraugus County has 9.2%

-Niagara County has 9%

Flint's crisis came from a deliberate decision to not treat water from a toxic river before sending it through the pipes to the city.

WNY's lead crisis comes from old housing and pulverized lead based paint. Things that can be breathed in and that children can put in their mouth when we're not looking.

And that is creating our crisis.

Sen. Chuck Schumer wants the Federal government to give home owners a $3000 tax credit to help them with lead abatement costs.

That's probably not going to be enough to cover all the costs. Unless people are allowed to claim it over a period of years. It's not just scrape the pain off and repaint. You need a good air mask and to seal off that part of your house. And there are the disposal costs. (What do you do with lead paint chips?)

What about the associated medical costs? I know there's a medical deduction on income tax, if you itemize and spend enough. Some people don't have the money up front for the chelation therapy and there's no guarantee that medical insurance will cover it.

We need more than what is being proposed.

WNY needs a major project undertaken to get the lead out!

We need to help the home owners get the paint out – professionally. It's not something you can do by yourself casually,

We need medical treatment for those affected by the paint poisoning.

No one has said anything about that.

And that can haunt a person for life.

Update: March 1, 2016

Buffalo is going to be buying lead testing kits in order to test children who might be living in houses contaminated with lead paint. They are also going to be purchasing pamphlets to warn people about the dangers of lead. Many of the houses were built during the Great Depression.

The Common Council also has $65,000 set aside to help with lead abatement projects.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has set aside $364,825 from a lawsuit settlement to help with lead abatement projects. This will supposedly help clean up between 40 to 50 homes.Ok.  What about the rest of the homes?  Especially the ones in rural areas that don't receive the attention that Buffalo receives?

Other sources are stepping up, like True Bethel Baptist Church. They purchased lead testing kits that can be used to test for lead poisoning. This is good. If a person tests positive for lead poisoning, then what? Where do they go for help?

The state needs to help clean up the mess created by lead paint. It also needs to treat those afflicted with damage caused by exposure to lead paint.