Free Lead Hazard Prevention Expo This Weekend in San Diego

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published October 19, 2007 at 10:28 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego officials are trying to reach out to thousands of families whose children may be exposed to lead. Lead is a highly toxic element that causes health effects ranging from behavioral problems a

San Diego officials are trying to reach out to thousands of families whose children may be exposed to lead. Lead is a highly toxic element that causes health effects ranging from behavioral problems and learning disabilities, to seizures and death. You can find out more about lead hazards at an event today in San Diego.

Lead in Mexican candy, toys, and products from China have brought lead back into focus as a health risk. Despite federal, state and local regulations banning lead from house paint and gasoline in 1978, it remains a danger.

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Alan Johanns is the asbestos and lead program manager with the city of San Diego. He says many neighborhoods in San Diego have homes with lead-based paint.

Johanns : Here in San Diego almost 70-percent of our homes were built before 1978. So you look at the numbers and there are probably 330,000 or so homes in San Diego that may have lead paint in them.

He says specialists will offer training on how to deal with lead in the home. Children six and under are most at risk from lead exposure because their bodies are growing quickly. Lead screening for children and toys is also offered at the " Get The Lead Out Expo! .” The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in San Diego’s Kearny Mesa neighborhood.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

(Location of event is First Floor, Ridgehaven “Green Building” 9601 Ridgehaven Court, San Diego, 92123. For more information, contact the City of San Diego Environmental Services Department .)

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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