Taking the lead on lead in MA.

• Position: Around the States - Massachusetts - Act to Protect Children from Lead Poisoning - Brief article

IN THE 1980S AND 1990S, CLF CHAMPIONED THE FIGHT against lead poisoning by drafting and ensuring passage of the nation's toughest lead poisoning prevention laws. As a result of this historic effort, levels of lead found in children's blood have fallen dramatically. But thousands of Massachusetts' children still have elevated levels of lead in their bloodstream, and poor and minority children are disproportionately affected.

The combination of this persistent environmental injustice and more sophisticated scientific understanding of lead's harmful effects has inspired CLF to pursue an effort to strengthen the lead prevention laws already in place. CLF believes that reform of these laws will provide necessary added protection to disproportionately affected populations.

Among the most important aspects of Sen. Pat Jehlen's lead reform bill, entitled "Act to...