Last year, Flint, Mich., became the poster child for lead poisoning — but an analysis conducted by Reuters shows Flint is nowhere near alone in its lead problems.
The analysis revealed nearly 3,000 other areas of the country have lead poisoning rates double Flint's peak rate. And, among the 3,000 communities with high rates of lead poisoning, more than a third had rates four times those present in Flint, according to the Reuters analysis.
"Like Flint, many of these localities are plagued by legacy lead: crumbling paint, plumbing, or industrial waste left behind. Unlike Flint, many have received little attention or funding to combat poisoning," the investigative report reads. Flint received $170 million from Congress to address the lead crisis. However, this is 10 times as much funding as the CDC has to spread among all states to address lead poisoning, according to the report.
The analysis is based on neighborhood-level childhood lead poisoning test results obtained from the CDC. However, the data is not complete. It spans 21 states and covers about 61 percent of the population, Reuters reported. The rest of the data was not made available.
Read the full article and see the interactive map here.
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