Thanks to Peter Garrett for funding GLASS for another year!

Great news! The Global Lead Advice and Support Service, run by The LEAD Group, is set to receive another year’s funding from the Federal Minister, Peter Garrett, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA). Funding for one year for one staff member and administrative costs was received for the 2009-10 financial year (FY). It is DEWHA’s funding in FY 2008-09 which allowed LEAD Action News to be reissued in its 9th volume. Many thanks also to the DEWHA staff of the Chemical Partnerships Section.

Barack Obama’s administration allocates US$169m for lead poisoning prevention in FY 2009-10

Seeing the urgency of addressing lead contamination in the USA, Barack Obama’s Administration in May 2009 released the 2010 Financial Year Budget Proposal, allocating:

to the EPA US$14,442,000 for the Lead Risk Reduction Program and $14,564,000 for Categorical Lead Grants. (Ref: p. 458 (Risk Reduction) and p. 705 (Grants)www.epa.gov/budget/2010/fy_2010_congressional_justification.pdf); to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) a total of US$140 million, towards lead related health awareness, prevention and management. He has requested an increase from the previous year’s funding of US$14.6 million to the proposed US$20 million, indicating an almost 40% increase in the grant towards lead safety management. (Ref: p. 49 of 64 www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/hud.pdf )

New York family awarded more than US$1 million for lead exposure in case against landlords

On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, a New York state Supreme Court judge approved a settlement giving four siblings aged 17 to 21, in Utica in Oneida County each a portion of US$1.16 million. The lawsuit was filed against two landlords for injuries sustained from lead exposure. Utica and Oneida County were recently also granted US$2m in federal funding to clean up lead in about 190 housing units and a $273,000 grant from the state to reduce lead poisoning among children in Utica. For the full story see Utica-family-awarded-more-than-1-million-for-lead-exposure