The city of Newark, N.J. will test about 17,000 children for lead poisoning after finding lead in the drinking water at 30 schools in the district.
About 2,000 toddlers at early childhood centers in those schools will be the first to be tested, Hanaa Hamdi, director of the Department of Health, told the City Council on Tuesday, nj.com reported.
The remaining older students will then be tested at sites set up outside of the schools, which sparked some debate among city officials.
“It doesn’t mean the other students are not our priority,” Hamdi said. “If we can look at those toddlers first, we’ll be able to gauge whether they’re safe or not.”
The lead findings in Newark come after high levels of lead were found in the public water supply in Flint, Mich. Officials in Newark have assured residents that the levels of lead in the school drinking water are not as high as those found in Flint. Newark officials do not know yet how many students were exposed to lead in the school buildings.
- LeBron James Could Take Pickleball—Yes, Pickleball—to the Next Level
- It's Going to Be a Lot More Expensive to Heat Your Home This Winter. Here's What To Expect
- The U.S. Might Be the Surprising Determining Factor in the Future of Armenia
- Rapper Saucy Santana Is Opening a Door For His Community
- Here are the Biggest Moments from the TIME100 Leadership Forum and Impact Awards in Singapore
- Column: Russia Wants to Lock Ukraine Back in the Soviet Cellar
- As the Kanjuruhan Tragedy Shows, Indonesia Has Not Resolved Its Long-Standing Problem of Soccer Violence
- Here's Everything New on Netflix in October 2022
- A New Documentary Series Illuminates the History and Evolution of Queer Horror
