Lead Poisoning in Cleveland Home Takes a Life
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Demetrius Wade is another victim whose young life was taken by lead poisoning.
As reported by Freshwater Cleveland, Wade's family lived in Lakeview Terrace, part of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. Wade and other children in the complex tested positive for high levels of lead.
The article states, "In Ohio, the law requires all children less than six years old be tested for elevated blood-lead levels if they meet any of the following criteria: the child lives in or regularly visits a property built before 1978, the child is on Medicaid or the child lives in an area in which at least 12 percent of the children under six are predicted to have elevated blood-lead levels."
Exposure to high levels of lead is very common in the city of Cleveland, as risks significantly increase in homes that were built before 1978 and 90% of houses in Cleveland meet this criteria.
The city of Cleveland continues to find extremely high levels of lead in these homes, and in 2014 "Cuyahoga County had the highest percentage of children with elevated blood-lead levels in Ohio."
