42 U.S.C. § 247b–3: Education, technology…

Summary

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to run a public education program about preventing lead poisoning in babies and children. The CDC must give information on how low levels of lead can hurt health, what causes lead poisoning, and what can be done to prevent it. The law also requires creating the Interagency Task Force on the Prevention of Lead Poisoning within 6 months after October 27, 1992. The Task Force is chaired by the HHS Secretary and includes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and their senior staff. The Task Force must review and coordinate existing agency plans (including plans dated February 21, 1991, and December 7, 1990), make a joint implementation plan for federally funded programs, share information, spot research and education priorities, note practical or technical limits, and each year review programs and budget requests. The Secretary, through the CDC, must also support better testing and cheaper tests for lead in children, better ways to measure how common lead poisoning is (including state-by-state), collect data on cases and on who is affected (including race and ethnicity) and who pays for treatment (including insurance), and fund applied research to make prevention programs work better. Each year the Task Force must send a report by May 1 to the Senate Committees on Labor and Human Resources and on Environment and Public Works, and to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Title 42, §247b–3

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Prevention

(1)Public education

The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a program to educate health professionals and paraprofessionals and the general public on the prevention of lead poisoning in infants and children. In carrying out the program, the Secretary shall make available information concerning the health effects of low-level lead toxicity, the causes of lead poisoning, and the primary and secondary preventive measures that may be taken to prevent such poisoning.

(2)Interagency Task Force

(A)Not later than 6 months after October 27, 1992, the Secretary shall establish a council to be known as the Interagency Task Force on the Prevention of Lead Poisoning (in this paragraph referred to as the “Task Force”). The Task Force shall coordinate the efforts of Federal agencies to prevent lead poisoning.

(B)The Task Force shall be composed of—

(i)the Secretary, who shall serve as the chair of the Task Force;

(ii)the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(iii)the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and

(iv)senior staff of each of the officials specified in clauses (i) through (iii), as selected by the officials respectively.

(C)The Task Force shall—

(i)review, evaluate, and coordinate current strategies and plans formulated by the officials serving as members of the Task Force, including—

(I)the plan of the Secretary of Health and Human Services entitled “Strategic Plan for the Elimination of Lead Poisoning”, dated February 21, 1991;

(II)the plan of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development entitled “Comprehensive and Workable Plan for the Abatement of Lead-Based Paint in Privately Owned Housing”, dated December 7, 1990; and

(III)the strategy of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency entitled “Strategy for Reducing Lead Exposures”, dated February 21, 1991;

(ii)develop a unified implementation plan for programs that receive Federal financial assistance for activities related to the prevention of lead poisoning;

(iii)establish a mechanism for sharing and disseminating information among the agencies represented on the Task Force;

(iv)identify the most promising areas of research and education concerning lead poisoning;

(v)identify the practical and technological constraints to expanding lead poisoning prevention;

(vi)annually carry out a comprehensive review of Federal programs providing assistance to prevent lead poisoning, and not later than May 1 of each year, submit to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate and the Committee on the Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, a report that summarizes the findings made as a result of such review and that contains the recommendations of the Task Force on the programs and policies with respect to which the Task Force is established, including related budgetary recommendations; and

(vii)annually review and coordinate departmental and agency budgetary requests with respect to all lead poisoning prevention activities of the Federal Government.

(b)Technology assessment and epidemiology

The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall, directly or through grants or contracts—

(1)provide for the development of improved, more cost-effective testing measures for detecting lead toxicity in children;

(2)provide for the development of improved methods of assessing the prevalence of lead poisoning, including such methods as may be necessary to conduct individual assessments for each State;

(3)provide for the collection of data on the incidence and prevalence of lead poisoning of infants and children, on the demographic characteristics of infants and children with such poisoning (including racial and ethnic status), and on the source of payment for treatment for such poisoning (including the extent to which insurance has paid for such treatment); and

(4)provide for any applied research necessary to improve the effectiveness of programs for the prevention of lead poisoning in infants and children.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1993—Pub. L. 103–43 made technical amendment to directory language of Pub. L. 102–531, § 303(b), which enacted this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Labor and Human Resources of Senate changed to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of Senate by Senate Resolution No. 20, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Jan. 19, 1999. Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress. Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred to Committee on Financial Services of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001.

§247b–3 Education, Technology Assessment, and Epidemiology Regarding Lead Poisoning