There’s no place like home, according to Dorothy. Thanks to lawmakers in our home state, PA kids don’t have to click their heels three times to summon attention on the problem of lead poisoning.

Case in point, state Representative Shelby Labs (R-Bucks) literally amplified the call for lead poisoning testing at a press conference in the Main Rotunda of the State Capitol.

“It is up to us to raise awareness on this issue and the potentially life-changing norms of addressing this. Lead poisoning is happening every day in neighborhoods all across our Commonwealth, in cities, in suburbs, and in rural towns,” she said.

In our nation’s capital, however, Health Secretary Robert Kennedy is asking Americans not to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. RFK, Jr. fired every person working at the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in April but just falsely claimed to Congress that he put a “team on the ground” to deal with a major lead poisoning crisis in Milwaukee. 

How could the CDC send a team when Kennedy had already fired the epidemiologists, statisticians and advisors who specialize in lead poisoning, the same people who specialize in detecting the source of exposure to planning an effective response? Answer: he didn’t.

Flying monkeys may be circling the U.S. Capitol but Pennsylvania skies are clearer. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the Lead-Free Promise Project (of which Children First is the founding member), eleven PA municipalities have passed ordinances to test for and remove exposure to lead toxins in homes, apartments, or child care centers.

Young children also need to be tested. Any child living in a home built before 1978 (when lead paint was banned) should be tested two times before turning two years old. This is critical because early detection is the best way to minimize the irreversible cognitive and behavioral damage that can lead to lifelong challenges. But too many parents don’t know to ask.

Representative Labs is offering a solution in Harrisburg. She is introducing bipartisan legislation, “that will require all children in Pennsylvania to be offered lead testing by their doctor twice before the age of two. This is a reasonable measure to save children because as we know, childhood lead poisoning is 100% preventable. And early testing is the best way to catch lead exposure before it causes irreversible harm.”

While some federal officials are the tin men, cowardly lions, and scarecrows lost on the yellow brick road, here in Pennsylvania, we have leaders with heart, brains, and courage. Dororthy’s right, there is no place like home.