Remote and Hands-on: Informal Environmental Health Science Education in a Socially Distant World.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for informal health science education, which traditionally involves face-to-face programming. We describe the adaptation of hands-on environmental health science kits for online and socially distanced informal education with diverse audiences. These hands-on science kits were traditionally used for in-person, whole group instruction. Because the kits include all the materials needed to complete the activities, they provide hands-on science experiences without the need for a science lab facility. We developed a logistics plan for online use of the kits, taking into account the use of technology, kit distribution, virtual instruction, and audience engagement. We also developed Covid-safe practices for in-person instruction that supported social distancing while engaging learners in hands-on science. The strategic adaptation and creative implementation of these kits allowed us to engage our community's youth in environmental health learning during the isolated and uncertain times of the pandemic. Lessons learned from this experience may inform future efforts to provide remote, interactive informal science education to respond to diverse learners' needs.

An investigation into porch dust lead levels.

Lead in porch dust can expose children through direct contact or track-in to the home, but has not been adequately evaluated. At homes undergoing lead hazard control in Rochester, NY, we sampled settled dust lead on exterior porch floors at baseline, immediately post-lead hazard control and one-year post-work (n=79 homes with complete data) via wipe sampling and collected housing, neighborhood and soil data. Baseline GM porch floor dust lead loading (PbPD) was 68 µg/ft(2), almost four times more than baseline GM interior floor dust lead (18 µg/ft(2)). Immediate post-work PbPD declined 55% after porch floor replacement and 53% after porch floor paint stabilization (p=0.009 and p=0.041, respectively). When no porch floor work was conducted but lead hazard control was conducted elsewhere, immediate post-work PbPD increased 97% (p=0.008). At one-year, GM PbPD continued to decline for porch replacement (77% below baseline) and paint stabilization (72% below baseline), but where no porch floor work was done, GM PbPD was not significantly different than baseline (p<0.001, p=0.028 and p=0.504, respectively). Modeling determined that porch floor replacement had significantly lower one-year PbPD than stabilization when baseline PbPD levels were higher than 148 µg/ft(2) (the 77th percentile) but not at lower levels. Treatment of porches with lead paint results in substantial declines in PbPD levels. It is of concern that PbPD levels increased significantly at immediate post-work when lead hazard control was not conducted on the porch but was conducted elsewhere. Standards for porch lead dust should be adopted to protect children from inadequate clean-up after lead hazard control.

Are local laws the key to ending childhood lead poisoning?

Although lead paint was banned by federal law in 1978, it continues to poison children living in homes built before that time. The lifelong effects of childhood exposure to even small amounts of lead are well established by medical research. Federal and state laws have reduced rates of lead poisoning significantly in the past three decades. However, pockets of high rates of lead poisoning remain, primarily in low-income urban neighborhoods with older housing stock. Recently, several municipalities have passed local lead laws to reduce lead hazards in high-risk areas. There has been no systematic attempt to compare the design and effectiveness of these local policies. To address this gap, we conducted comparative case studies of eight innovative lead laws promulgated since 2000. The laws used a wide variety of legal structures and tools, although certain elements were common. The impact of the policies was intertwined with local housing, economic, and legal environments. While data do not yet exist to systematically evaluate the impact of these laws on lead poisoning rates, our analysis suggests that local laws hold great promise for reducing lead hazards in children's homes.

Blood lead levels of refugee children resettled in Massachusetts, 2000 to 2007.

OBJECTIVES: We described elevated blood lead level (BLL; ≥ 10 µg/dL) prevalence among newly arrived refugee children in Massachusetts. We also investigated the incidence of BLL increases and BLLs newly elevated to 20 µg/dL or higher in the year following initial testing, along with associated factors. METHODS: We merged data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Refugee and Immigrant Health Program and the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program on 1148 refugee children younger than 7 years who arrived in Massachusetts from 2000 to 2007. RESULTS: Elevated BLL prevalence was 16% among newly arrived refugee children. The rate ratio for BLL elevation to 20 µg/dL or higher after arrival was 12.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.2, 24.5) compared with children in communities the state defines as high-risk for childhood lead exposure. Residence in a census tract with older housing (median year built before 1950) was associated with a higher rate of BLL increases after resettlement (hazard ratio = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.2, 2.3). CONCLUSIONS: Refugee children are at high risk of lead exposure before and after resettlement in Massachusetts. A national surveillance system of refugee children's BLLs following resettlement would allow more in-depth analysis.