The number of children suffering from lead exposure in Ohio has decreased in recent years, though the state is still well above the national average, according to panelists at Monday's Ohio Legislative Children's Caucus meeting.

New research recently published in JAMA Pediatrics shows that over half of all children nationwide have detectable lead levels in their blood and that Ohio’s levels are more than twice the national rate. The research found that Ohio has the second highest proportion of children with lead in their blood compared to all 50 states. The full study can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/457n5cxt.

In 2019, over 3,500 Ohio children were diagnosed with elevated blood lead levels, according to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Caucus co-chair Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said also that for 90 percent of Ohio children this lead exposure was caused by lead-based paint and dust and chips in older homes. She said lead pipes that deliver water are also a major factor with the state's having more than 650,000 lead pipes still in use.

Dr. Harvey Kaufman, senior medical director and the head of the Health Trends Research Program for Quest Diagnostics and co-author of the JAMA Pediatrics report also participated in the meeting.

Kaufman said that a previous 2016 study, covering 2010 to 2015, found about seven percent of Ohio children had elevated lead blood levels and the new research, conducted from October 2018 to February 2020, shows about 5.2 percent of children have elevated blood lead levels. While the numbers are improving in Ohio, the national rate is still far lower -- going from about 3 percent of children with elevated blood levels in the 2016 study to about 1.9 percent in the more recent study.

Kaufman stressed there is no safe level of lead. Of the 1.1 million children tested in the study, just over half had detectable blood lead levels, and Kaufman said Ohio mirrored that national trend.

Three main factors are behind Ohio's lead levels, Kaufman said. First, about two-thirds of housing in Ohio is from the 1980s and earlier when lead paint was not yet outlawed. Other factors are poverty and high numbers of children under Medicaid. Kaufman said these two factors may be linked to higher rates of iron deficiencies, which increases absorption of lead.

Other data show that the number of children with very high blood lead levels has also significantly decreased, Kaufman said.

Dr. Matthew Tien, pediatrician and co-chair of the MetroHealth Lead Coalition, discussed efforts to increase lead testing for Ohio children. While some states require lead tests for all one- to two-year-old children, Ohio requires testing for children with certain risk factors. Tien said research has shown doctors are pretty proficient at getting tests ordered, but parents sometimes do not follow through with them.

He said the MetroHealth System was able to significantly improve testing rates by better organizing and communicating with various departments and by finishing the tests in the clinic. Previously parents would have to go to outside labs.

Timothy Johnson, a policy advocate for the Ohio Poverty Law Center and also with the Ohio Lead Free Kids Coalition (OLFKC), discussed how funds available from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act could be used to address the issue.

According to recent analysis by OLFKC, Ohio's current funding levels for lead hazard control and lead abatement mean it would take over 141 years for the state make all homes safe from lead.

He stressed that lead exposure comes at a high price. According to the Pew Center on the States, he said that for every dollar spent controlling lead hazards, at least $17 would be returned (and as much as $221) in health benefits, increased IQ, higher lifetime earnings, tax revenues, lower special education costs and reduced criminal activity.

Recently, he said the state appropriated $6.5 million across two fiscal years for the lead abatement fund, which he called a historic investment. Johnson reviewed other available funding, but said these funds still don't match the scope of the problem.

He said ARP funds represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address the problem and said that while the issue may seem like a great challenge to address, the state has the resources and knowledge to do it.

"It is not a question of can we do it. It is a question of will we do it," he added.