Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm

The Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law and Ethics will be publishing the article Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm which provides a comprehensive overview of the dangers of lead exposure, details the federal government’s evolving response to lead poisoning, and for the first time, disseminates previously unpublished comments on “Drafting a New Federal Strategy to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposure and Impacts,” that were submitted to the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children in 2017, ahead of its most recent report.

This Article creates a record of critical recommendations to the Task Force, provides best practices for the federal government’s response to lead poisoning, and encourages federal policymakers to take the necessary steps to meet the original goal of eradicating lead hazards and protecting children from lead poisoning.

Authors included: Emily A. Benfer, Columbia Law School, Emily Coffey, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Allyson Gold, University of Alabama School of Law, Mona Hanna-Attisha, Hurley Medical Center, Michigan State University, Bruce P. Lanphear, University of British Columbia – BC Children’s Hospital and Child Family Research Institute, Simon Fraser University, Helen Y. Li, Connecticut Legal Services, Ruth Ann Norton, Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, David J. Rosner, Columbia University – Mailman School of Public Health and Kate Walz, Sargent Shriver Center National Center on Poverty Law.

Yale Journal of Health, Law and Ethics , Volume 18, No. 2, 2019