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Gwen Moore Blames Trump for Milwaukee's Lead Problem
Congresswoman Gwen Moore is, once again, laying the blame for Milwaukee’s response to MPS’ lead paint problems at the feet of the Trump Administration.
Moore, who is a Democrat from Milwaukee, was on the Maggie Daun Show Thursday, blaming cuts to the CDC for a lack of experts to advise Milwaukee’s health department on how to test kids for lead poisoning.
“This is a program that for 70-years, we don't know of an instance where they've turned down a municipality. Because people only apply for this fund when they're having some sort of emergency, a public health emergency,” Moore said in an interview.
Her comments after she wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. asking to restore laid off workers from the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch.
“In November, a young MPS student tested positive for lead poisoning, and after careful public health investigation, it was determined that case was connected to deteriorating lead paint chips at Golda Meir Elementary School, a MPS building,” Moore and Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin wrote. “Since then, three other children tested positive for lead poisoning, leading to the temporary closure of four MPS Schools while active and ongoing efforts to remediate lead exposures occur in those schools. This issue is likely widespread, as there are 125 MPS buildings built before the federal ban on lead-based paint.”
Moore asked in her letter for HHS to rehire the fired lead paint experts.
She did not say, however, that Milwaukee Public Schools have done little to nothing about the lead paint in their schools for decades.
Though she did tell Daun that Milwaukee has has a serious lead problem among young people for years.
“We have 2,500 cases of lead poisoning, mostly from paint as opposed to lead pipes, in our community every year,” Moore added. “It's very serious.”
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