Mar 1
2016
Dan Telvock talks lead poisoning on WBFO
On WBFO’s Press Pass, Investigative Post’s Dan Telvock discusses his reporting on Buffalo’s serious lead poisoning problem.
Posted 8 years ago
Mar 1
2016
On WBFO’s Press Pass, Investigative Post’s Dan Telvock discusses his reporting on Buffalo’s serious lead poisoning problem.
Feb 11
2016
Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney takes Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown to task for his unwillingness to collaborate with the Erie County Health Department to tackle the city’s lead poisoning problem. Heaney termed as “outrageous” the mayor’s acceptance of the status quo. Listen to his interview Thursday with Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom. The interview runs from 22:13 to 36:48. Brown’s unwillingness to work more closely with the county will be the topic of Heaney’s “Outrages & Insights” written and video blog and will post on InvestigativePost.org and broadcast on WGRZ this coming Sunday.
Jul 6
2015
In the second of a two-part series, Investigative Post reports on limited progress being made by local government officials to address lead poisoning in low-income neighborhoods on the city’s East and West Side. The Erie County Health Department has concentrated its inspections for lead paint to houses in at-risk neighborhoods where children live. Meanwhile, Mayor Byron Brown said he’s willing to have City Hall consider teaming with the county to deal with the problem. A similar effort by officials in Rochester and Monroe County has proved successful. Investigative Post reported Thursday that nearly 500 children in three ZIP codes comprising[...]
Jul 2
2015
March Moon fled Burma for a better quality of life in Buffalo. Instead, she’s got a sick kid suffering from lead poisoning. Her five-year-old son has kidney problems. He struggles to eat and sleep. His stunted growth makes him the smallest pupil in preschool. He’s been hospitalized numerous times with stays of up to eight days. “The Erie County Department of Health came to my house and they said that my son has lead poisoning,” Moon said. “I had never heard of that before. What is that?” Moon and her ailing son are not alone. Thirty-seven years after lead was[...]
Nov 11
2014
Young children in Erie County, mostly from Buffalo’s inner city, are testing positive for lead poisoning at more than triple the state average. As a result, hundreds of children enter Buffalo schools every year dealing with the impacts of lead poisoning, which can include lowered IQ and behavioral problems. The chief source of the problem is lead-based paint chips and dust in Buffalo’s old housing stock. “Buffalo is ground zero in the entire country for lead poisoning,” said David Hahn-Baker, a local environmental activist who has studied the lead problem for three decades. Yet City Hall treats lead poisoning as[...]
Nov 10
2014
Investigative Post, in the first of a three-part series, examines the danger posed by lead paint contamination in Buffalo. Buffalo children aged five and under test positive for lead poisoning at more than three times the state average. Erie County’s rate is the worst of the 11 counties that test 10,000 or more children a year. “Buffalo is ground zero in the entire country for lead poisoning,” said David Hahn-Baker, an environmental activist in Buffalo. Dr. Stanley Schaffer, director of the Western New York Lead Poisoning Resource Center in Rochester, said the consequences can be dire: Reduced IQ, learning disabilities and[...]
Feb 13
2024
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director of Partnership for the Public Good, speaks at a press conference Tuesday, Feb. 13 about the low number of home inspections Buffalo has completed to survey for lead. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. Nearly 40 local community organizations are questioning whether City Hall is fully complying with a more than 3-year-old program that was designed, in part, to help combat lead poisoning in city housing. They’re giving the city a month to prove that inspectors have been fully implementing the program. Partnership for the Public Good addressed a letter to Mayor Byron Brown and Catherine[...]
Feb 7
2018
Buffalo’s lead poisoning crisis – some 1,000 children are diagnosed every year with dangerous levels of lead in their blood – could be worse than reported, Investigative Post has determined. School officials can verify that only about half the children enrolled in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten have been tested at least once for lead poisoning. It’s uncertain how many got tested twice by the age of 3, as required by state law. In light of this, the schools have proposed to provide free lead screenings for incoming students and younger siblings at community schools and two mobile health clinics. But[...]