The Calhoun County Lead Poisoning Prevention Task Force on Wednesday will release a nearly 60-page report about the problems local children face related to lead-based paint, plus efforts to increase remediation.
The report’s release comes ahead of a public lead awareness event on Thursday, as the task force works to educate the public on the effects of lead and the environmental factors that result in lead poisoning.
In the last five years, more than 300 Calhoun County children age 6 and under have been poisoned by lead. While the Flint water crisis has brought heightened awareness to lead poisoning, in Calhoun County the issue most often is caused by lead paint; much of our housing stock is older than 1978, the year regulations took effect that banned lead in paints used in homes.
Please join task force members for a press conference on this report:
2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 26
City Hall Room 302A (behind commission chambers)
10 N. Division St.
The following evening, 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, the task force will host a lead poisoning awareness event, led by speaker Tina Reynolds. Reynolds is the health policy director at the Michigan Environmental Council and coalition manager for the Michigan Alliance for Lead Safe Homes. This event is free to the public and doors open at 6 p.m. at the Kool Family Community Center, 200 W. Michigan Ave.
The task force is comprised of representatives from the following agencies and organizations: Community Action of South Central Michigan, Calhoun Intermediate School District, Calhoun County Public Health Department, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, City of Battle Creek, Village of Homer, Integrated Health Partners, City of Albion, Calhoun County Land Bank Authority, Grace Health, City of Marshall, and the Food Bank of South Central Michigan.