On February 15, the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children met to discuss the next steps in developing the Draft Federal Strategy to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Eliminate Associated Health Impacts. The task force, established in 1997, is co-chaired by the EPA Administrator and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and is compromised of 17 federal agencies.
The meeting invitation from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt listed the five major goals currently included in the comprehensive strategy draft: reduce sources of lead in children’s environments; improve identification and monitoring of lead exposure to children; improve the health of children identified as lead-exposed; communicate effectively and consistently with stakeholders about childhood lead exposure; and plan cross-federal research to advance scientific understanding of the effects, evaluation and control of lead hazards in children’s environments.
According to EPA’s news release the meeting’s attendees agreed to:
- Make addressing childhood lead exposure a priority for Task Force departments and agencies;
- Five goals that frame the new Federal Strategy to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Eliminate Associated Health Impacts;
- Set an aggressive, near-term timeline for the Task Force to complete its work to draft the strategy; and,
- Schedule a follow-up principals meeting or event to issue the federal strategy and discuss next steps.
The task force’s Lead Exposures Subcommittee first issued a federal strategy on eliminating childhood lead poisoning in 2000, which focused primarily on lead paint. The new strategy will update the recommendations given in the first strategy and a draft is expected to be available for public comment in late 2018.