Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on September 6, 2005, to rename the "Childhood Immunization Registry" as the "Michigan Care Improvement Registry," and expand it to include information on child lead screening. This is a state database of vaccination records. The bill would permit a significant expansion of the Michigan Childhood Immunization Registry to include all Michigan residents, and integrate it with other public health data

The vote was 37 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 not voting

(Senate Roll Call 52 at Senate Journal 9)

Click here to view bill details.

Very wise!

Blood alone will only show current levels? Right? Hair shows past levels which is still important in determining any brain damage.

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This is great legislation! Good work for Michigan! You should be proud of yourselves. Spread the word to other states, please! Michigan used to have a Progressive Era where we would come up with great ideas that other states adopted. We could do it again!

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060524/OPINION01/605240325/1068/OPINION Too Many Still Live with Lead May 24, 2006 The state Health Department has declared a public health hazard, particularly to children, from lead exposure in a Hamtramck neighborhood known as Grand Haven. Tragically, despite straightforward declarations about the danger of lead, much remains in yards and inside older homes throughout Michigan. Grand Haven may be in better shape than many older neighborhoods. In one section where 60 new houses are being built, nearly all the soil has been cleaned up. Although tests show about 10% of Grand Haven's children have too high levels of lead in their blood, that rate is lower than in some nearby ZIP codes in Detroit and Highland Park. The neighborhood lies close to several lead smelters that are now defunct in Hamtramck's northwestern corner along both sides of I-75. Lead from gasoline, before it was banned as an additive, may also affect the soil, which surpassed lead standards in nearly a quarter of neighborhood samples. The older housing that remains also predates the 1978 ban on lead in paint. Unfortunately, the Michigan Department of Community Health report does not force action. The neighborhood got attention only because the Department of Environmental Quality is building a case for federal cleanup of soil affected by the abandoned smelters. That means the Health Department can merely repeat the standard recommendations: Clean up the contaminated soil that remains, get lead paint out of older houses, and ensure that all children 6 and younger get lead tests in the meantime. Local health departments also can advise families on how to minimize lead exposure in older homes and from their yards. Exposure to lead damages a child's neurological development. A second generation is coming of age since the danger was fully documented and lead was banned from gasoline and paint. Yet the harm continues, with only an occasional report as a shameful reminder of how many children -- especially in central cities -- suffer as a result.