Chicago To Start Testing Water In Homes of Children Poisoned By Lead

"With public officials across the nation under fire for downplaying the health risks posed by lead water pipes, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration is moving to start testing tap water in the homes of children poisoned by the brain-damaging metal.

A top official at the Chicago Department of Public Health revealed the new program Monday during a presentation to lawyers, physicians, researchers and advocates debating how to address the city's lingering problems with lead poisoning, which continues to ravage children in poor, predominantly African-American neighborhoods on the South and West sides at rates significantly higher than the national average.

Details of the water testing program are still being worked out. But in both tone and substance, the policy change marks an abrupt shift by city officials who for years have insisted Chicagoans face little, if any, risk from drinking water distributed to thousands of homes through lead pipes."

Michael Hawthorne reports for the Chicago Tribune April 4, 2016.