Responding to new guidelines: Strategies for public health, housing and environmental health professionals and agencies

State and local health departments and others will ultimately be charged with implementing recommendations from the CDC and be requested to both prevent exposures and respond to children with blood lead levels above the reference value. Revisions to the guidance on childhood lead poisoning present new challenges in how to collaborate with housing, consumer protection, environmental, and other entities to plan and execute successful primary prevention activities. Experiences in several jurisdictions that already intervene at blood lead levels above the reference value will be presented and evaluated. Challenges include adopting true primary prevention by reducing exposures before an elevation in blood lead levels occur, screening those potential exposures, integrating hazard control into existing housing and environmental intervention activities, shortfalls in federal funding and others.