Senator Jack Reed, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation, has announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Lead-Based Paint Poisoning: State and Local Responses."

With nearly one million pre-school children affected, lead poisoning continues to pose the most serious environmental health hazard to children in the United States. Lead poisoning can cause long-term health and behavior problems, lowered IQs and severe learning difficulties. It has even been linked to higher incidences of cavities in teeth. The federal government alone has spent over a billion dollars to address the problem of lead contamination and poisoning.

Among the issues the hearing will examine are the continuing affects of lead poisoning on children; the strengths and weaknesses of programs to permanently eliminate lead poisoning; and state and local government efforts to recover the costs of abatement and treatment programs linked to lead paint.

The hearing will be held:

Scheduled to appear before the Subcommittee are:

• The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse, Attorney General, State of Rhode Island;
• Ms. Susan Thornfeldt, Coordinator, Maine Lead Action Project;
• Dr. Bruce Lanphear, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; and
• Mr. Nick Farr, Executive Director, National Center for Lead-Safe Housing.