Lead poisoning in Pa. & NJ

Guests: Elyse Pivnik, Nan Feyler, Hans Kersten, and Jay Schneider

The Flint water crisis brought the issue of lead poisoning to the forefront. But health advocates say that in our region far more children suffer from elevated lead levels and yet little attention is paid.  Unlike Flint however, the main source of lead poisoning in Pennsylvania and New Jersey comes from flaking and chipping paint.  This hour we look at why lead remains such a persistent public health problem, the damage it does to developing brains, and what can be done to tackle it. Marty’s guests are ELYSE PIVNIK, director of environmental health at ISLES, a community development organization based in Trenton, NAN FEYLER, a visiting professor of law at Temple University Beasley School of Law and former deputy commissioner of public health programs for the City of Philadelphia, HANS KERSTEN, attending physician and medical director of the Grow Clinic at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and JAY SCHNEIDER, professor in the Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology at Thomas Jefferson University.