THIS TIME ON CODE WACK!
We talk a lot about how our healthcare system fails us when we get sick, but what about when regulators fail to PREVENT ILLNESS? Case in point: lead poisoning. It’s not just a danger from the past. Thousands of children are sickened from lead poisoning each year across the country.
This week we’re looking at New York State which has older, poorly maintained housing stock in several areas, and where we’ve seen some of the highest incidences of lead poisoning in the country. So why hasn’t the state legislature passed the Lead Paint Right to Know Act, a bill that could help protect families from this entirely preventable harm?
To learn more, we recently spoke with Shannon Burkett, a New York mother whose son Cooper was diagnosed with lead poisoning as an infant in 2008. Shannon is also the writer, producer, and editor of the podcast LEAD: How This Story Ends Is Up to Us. Both Shannon, a registered nurse, and Cooper, now 18, have been powerful voices in the fight to end lead poisoning.
This is the second episode in a two-part series.
Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!
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SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
Many people think lead poisoning is a thing of the past, like smallpox, but there were over 5,000 children diagnosed in New York City alone with elevated blood lead levels in 2022 and again in 2023. What’s the reason for this?
“Yes. Thousands of kids every year are diagnosed with lead poisoning in the city of New York, and then thousands more across the state. And the reason why is because New York has very, very wealthy, well-funded real estate lobbying groups. Yeah. It’s the real estate.
The real estate [industry] really has to allow the legislation to pass to protect these kids. And you know, when we’ve been in these hearings and we’ve testified in these hearings, you know, they’ll try to downplay the effects of lead. They’ll try to say that there’s enough laws, but clearly there are not enough laws. And clearly too many kids are still getting diagnosed.” – Shannon Burkett
What’s the status of New York’s Lead Paint Right to Know Act, and what would it do exactly if passed?
“So the Lead Paint Right To Know Act is a very inexpensive bill with massive returns. The Lead Paint Right to Know Act, which didn’t pass again this year – it actually passed the assembly with the largest, the largest margin to date, but it wasn’t even brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Which is incredibly frustrating because we had a lot of co-sponsors and probably could have passed it.
“And that’s part of the reason why I did the podcast, was to try and get this bill passed because the Lead Paint Right To Know Act simple – the only thing it does is it stipulates that anybody who is going to sell a dwelling or rent a dwelling your home apartment, that you have to get it tested, it’s a couple hundred dollars and you go around and you test it, you actually get a tax credit for it.
“So it doesn’t actually cost you anything. And you have to provide that information to the new buyer or the new renter so that they know whether or not lead is present in the home and where it is located. And that is super important for every family, every single person, because if the lead is actually in your window sill and you’re opening and closing your window sill, you’re actually releasing lead dust every time you open and close that window sill.
“If your kid is small and they get tested positive for lead, then you know, you know that the lead is in your home where it’s located, you can go immediately to those sources and rule them out. ” – Shannon Burkettt
What other bills or reforms do you think are needed to reduce lead exposure? Talk about it from an insurance perspective.
“… if your kid gets sick in New York State in a rental, then [the landlord’s] insurance doesn’t cover it. [The landlord] can file for bankruptcy; they’re never held responsible and your child is never covered. [Children] never get the help that they need and talk about.
“And so the legislation I would like to see is … that … insurance is forced to cover lead poisoning. … the insurance companies would not cover apartments or homes that were lead-infested and that would force these landlords to abate …”
“Another law that I would like to see is, I would like to see (talking about healthcare systems) is I would like to see lead poisoning fall under a Traumatic Brain Injury because children of lead poisoning have very similar, very similar symptoms and signs and effects that a traumatic injury does to the brain.
“ … but … the neuropsychs are not covered, neuropsychs are covered for TBIs traumatic brain injuries. They’re not covered for [victims] of lead poisoning.
“… there’s also therapies that are … not covered under lead poisoning that would be covered under a TBI [diagnosis]. So that’s one of the things with the healthcare system that I believe needs to, to change.– Shannon Burkett
Helpful Links
LEAD: How This Story Ends Is Up to Us, Shannon Burkett
ARCHIVE: Lead Paint Right to Know Act, We Act For Environmental Justice
Why some upstate cities have high rates of lead poisoning, City & State New York
Policies to Reduce Lead Exposure: Lessons from Buffalo and Rochester, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Lead Hazards on Rental Property & Tenants’ Legal Rights and Options, Justia
The Role of Insurance in Lead Paint Lawsuits: A Landlord’s Perspective, Law Offices of Richard A. Fogel
Pb Neurotoxicity: Neuropsychological Effects of Lead Toxicity, Biomed Research International
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Biography: Shannon Burkett
Shannon Burkett is the writer/producer/editor of LEAD: how this story ends is up to us (Tribeca Film Festival 2025) starring Merritt Wever & Cynthia Nixon.
Her musical The Female Pope was awarded the Jonathan Larson Grant, Pipeline Arts Award, and developed at JMF Goodspeed, GF Berkeley Rep, and NAMT. Her award-winning short films have screened at Cannes, Woodstock, and many more.
As an actor, she appeared on Broadway alongside Patrick Stewart in Arthur Miller’s The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, many Off-Broadway shows, TV & Film.
Learn more at shannonburkett.com
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