(WXYZ) — New legislation signed into law Tuesday will make testing for lead exposure mandatory for all children in Michigan.
“I’ve been here all my life, born and raised right here. This was my grandparents' house,” said TaNicca Henry.
TaNiccia Henry is showing me around her property.
WXYZ’s Mike Duffy asked, “So what are we looking at here?”
“Okay, now this is all lead paint,” said Henry.
“It really does look like alligator skin,” said Duffy.
“It does. Look up here. Look up here. You see that? You can see it really good on the windows next door too,” said Henry.
Henry was in Lansing Tuesday to see the governor signing into law a lead testing requirement for all children in Michigan who are one and two years old.
“Now, it’s universal. Every kid has to be tested. And I’m so excited,” TaNiccia Henry, whose grandson had lead poisoning.
She explained to me it’s personal because her grandson, Lloyd, was diagnosed with lead poisoning.
“So, his hair stopped growing for about 6 months and it was kind of ashy. And his feet were black,” said Henry.
Typically, though the signs are confused for bad behavior such as hyperactivity, slow learning, and slow processing.
“My concern is brain damage. Lloyd is in special, you know, special classes,” said Henry.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator John Cherry (Flint-D) says it’s an issue that became personal for him when the doctor for his first child seemed hesitant about testing for lead.
“When we investigated we became aware of the fact that there is a testing requirement for children who are on Medicaid, but then kids who are either uninsured or are under commercial insurance, there’s no lead testing requirement. And so oftentimes, kids can be in a situation where they may be exposed to lead but they’re not going to get a lead test.”
I asked him what he hoped would come of the new lead testing requirement in Michigan.
“That we understand where our biggest exposure to lead is coming from in the state and then we put in place policies to help eliminate that,” said Senator Cherry.
Mary Sue Schottenfels works with the Detroit Lead Advocacy Parent Group or D-LEAD, a group of concerned parents who have worked for several years to get issues around lead in the state resolved. They were a driving force in getting the lead testing legislation passed.
“Lead poisoning is still a tremendous problem in the city of Detroit. Over 1,200 kids get poisoned every year, and that’s with only 40% of kids at most getting tested,” Mary Sue Schottenfels, D-LEAD.
“So, we really work to make sure that the community knows that there are resources. But if you don’t know if your kid's lead poisoned, you’re not going to take advantage of those resources,” Schottenfels.
What do you think we’re going to find now that every child will be tested?
“I think we’re going to find a lot more children are lead poisoned.”
