About Us | Contact Us | Donate

Dear Supporter:

On Monday, Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law that would strengthen New Jersey’s protections for children exposed to lead.

This new law ensures that New Jersey matches national Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations on the level of lead necessary to trigger medical care and home visits. There is no healthy level of lead for a child, and lead exposure can have lifelong impacts on a child’s brain development, behavior, and learning.

Previously, children in New Jersey were required to receive services if they had a blood-lead level 10 micrograms per deciliter or above. The level has now been lowered to 5 micrograms per deciliter. The New Jersey Department of Health estimates that about 3,000 more children will require treatment. Along these lines, the state health department has already begun proposing new regulations to put New Jersey in line with national CDC standards. For ACNJ’s comments on these proposed regulations, click here.

Kudos to Governor Christie and the bipartisan group of bill sponsors who made this legislation possible! We now urge both the legislature and governor to provide a sustainable plan to make sure that there is enough funding to give all lead-exposed kids and families the support they need to lead healthy lives.

Read NJ Spotlight story.

Sincerely,

Cecilia Zalkind
President/CEO