Federal Government funding was suspended suddenly in July
2003. Funding from the NSW Government for 2003-2005 is $10,000/yr each from EPA and Health
which is insufficient for wages. It is therefore not certain whether the service will
exist in its current framework; now being run by volunteers. CALL US WHILE YOU STILL
CAN
The Global Lead Advice & Support Service (GLASS) incorporating the Lead Advisory
Service Australia (LASA) run by The LEAD Group Inc, requires further funding to ensure the
phones and e-mails are answered up to 5,000 times a year.
Unfortunately,
with so much lead left in our environment – in old paint and ceiling dust in
particular - the refusal of all state governments and major lead mining and lead utilising
companies to fund LASA adequately, puts thousands of children at risk of lead poisoning.
In FY 1999-2000 alone we handled over 5,500 calls and distributed 53,640 items of printed
information averaging over 1031 items for every week of the year: how many children did we
protect from lead poisoning? The work we do has a major benefit even when you allow for
the cost of us receiving wages. With a NSW EPA grant of $300,000 in FY 1996-7 we were also
able to pro-actively educate the community by paying a media officer and an outreach
officer. No government agency or industry body is as motivated as this bunch of parents
(and the caring professionals who advise The LEAD Group) to eliminate childhood lead
poisoning.
We need your
support to keep us alive while we find enough funding to stay open.
If
you think that our service is worth maintaining, show your support by:
Making a
donation to the Lead Education and Abatement Fund (LEAF). Donations over $2 are tax
deductible so please fill in the form so that we can send you a receipt for tax purposes.,
and/or
Becoming a
member of The LEAD Group Incorporated, by filling in the membership form , and/or
Writing a letter
to your state Minister for the Environment, and to your Minister for Health, asking them
to ensure continued funding of the Lead Advisory Service Australia (LASA).
Your support is
very much appreciated
Elizabeth
O’Brien
National Coordinator
The LEAD Group Inc |
| The
community cost of each lead poisoned child (ie for each 10 �g/dL rise in lead in blood)
is $10,280 in remedial education costs, health costs and lost earning potential. When
compared to the call cost of LASA’s FY 1999-2000 service, if only one of 246 calls
results in preventing one child from exceeding the Australian goal, the service is cost
effective. |
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