In 2006, the offices of the Vermont Attorney General and the Vermont Department of Health collaborated on a major initiative to reduce children’s exposure to lead in Vermont. The Get the Lead Out of Vermont Task Force researched the “state of lead” in Vermont and developed recommendations for prevention and identification of lead exposures, as well as ways to intervene in confirmed cases. Read the report here.

The recommendations of the report are based on three principles:
•    There is no safe level of lead and it is particularly harmful to young children.
•    Vermont should prevent exposure to lead rather than react to findings of elevated blood lead levels.
•    Vermont must increase resources to reduce or eliminate exposure to lead.

A number of important steps were taken in response to the findings and recommendations of the task force:
•    The Vermont Department of Health lowered the blood lead level of concern from 10µg/dL (micrograms per deciliter of blood) to 5µg/dL.
•    A lead poisoning prevention committee was created.
•    Legislation expanded and strengthened Vermont’s lead and housing law and took steps to reduce exposure to lead in consumer products.