Norton Decries CDC Cover-Up of Lead in Water (5/20/2010)

Norton Decries CDC Cover-Up of Lead in Water

May 20, 1010

WASHINGTON, DC -- Under questioning from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Dr. Robin M. Ikeda, a Deputy Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), today said that she would work to ensure that identified residents who were informed that there were no harmful levels of lead in D.C's water in 2004 have assistance from the CDC and the District of Columbia. Congresswoman Norton sat with a House Science and Technology subcommittee during a hearing on its investigative report issued today that accused the CDC of making inaccurate and indefensible claims in a 2004 report concerning lead in the city's drinking water. Following the hearing, Norton said, "The CDC has participated in nothing short of a cover up that may have harmed families, especially children, in ways that could be difficult to redress." The subcommittee's investigation found that the number of children in the District of Columbia who had elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) in 2002 and 2003 was more than three times higher than the CDC reported. The subcommittee also found that that the laboratories that conducted these blood tests determined that at least 949 D.C. children had elevated blood lead levels in 2002 and 2003, although the CDC reported that only 315 D.C. children suffered from elevated blood lead levels at that time.

When allegations first arose that the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) had used methodologies that deliberately understated lead in the water, Norton had a number of hearings in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Norton said that the agencies involved in the water crisis appear to have colluded to suppress critical information. "Even if they wanted to avoid panic at the time," she said, "inaccurate information can only produce comparable emotions later." In 2007, Norton introduced the Lead-Free Drinking Water Act of 2007, with Representative Henry Waxman, then-chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to address the issue of lead in drinking water nationally. After increased water lead levels were discovered, frequent tests and other steps have been taken to ensure the safety of D.C.'s water.

In its original 2004 report, CDC said that high amounts of lead in D.C.'s water were not causing harm to District residents. Today's Science and Technology Subcommittee investigation and a report from GAO make clear that the CDC knowingly relied on incomplete and misleading blood-test results that it knew would minimize fears about the harm of lead in the water. "To make matters worse, many residents relied on a remedy long since proven to be faulty," Norton said. "We're told that 9,100 residences who partially replaced lead-pipes were four times more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood than others." Norton said the reason for this is that replacement of homeowner pipes without replacement of the pipes leading to those homes, which are the city's responsibility, apparently increases lead levels. Norton noted that there was no apology today from the CDC, despite the well-known information from the CDC, among others, that elevated lead levels in water can cause mental and physical disorders.