Utah Continues to Make Progress Against Lead Poisoning

Lead poisoning is beginning to receive the attention it deserves in Utah. This past legislative cycle, Senate Joint Resolution 2 was passed which encourages medical providers who care for children, pregnant women, and women of child-bearing age, to become familiar with the recommended federal and state guidelines including:

• Medicaid lead screening and testing requirements
• Reporting requirements of blood lead test results to the state of Utah
• Risk exposure prevention
• Early interventions for children with elevated blood lead levels

While this is a step in the right direction, only 3% of Utah children are being tested for blood lead levels with 2% of tests being positive correlating to hundreds of possible undiagnosed cases in Utah. UPHE encourages anyone who lives in a home older than 1978 and has children younger than 6 to test their children for lead and to apply Salt Lake County’s Lead Safe Housing Program that can help remediate lead hazards in the home for free! Learn more at their website or by watching this video (below)!