How distorted data is used to conceal lead poisoning in Milwaukee
By Thomas Welcenbach, Get the Lead Out Coalition (GTLO)
December 11, 2020
How distorted data is used to conceal lead poisoning in Milwaukee neighborhoods by City officials who won’t fairly depict the issue to the policy makers. A response to “Building a Better Budget” by Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic
The recent editorial by District 14 Common Council Alderwomen Marina Dimitrijevic titled “Building a Better Budget” goes to significant lengths to address the lead poisoning crisis in the City of Milwaukee. Alderwomen Dimitrijevic specifically puts forward her budget amendment, the SafeHomes Lead Abatement Initiative, stating that it “increases lead abatement and lead hazard inspection capabilities of the Milwaukee Health Department and the Department of Neighborhood Services,” through $1 million in funding. While additional funding toward the eradication of lead in Milwaukee homes is of extreme importance, the GTLO is critical of the SafeHomes Initiative for multiple reasons.
First, Alderwomen Dimitrijevic states that the SafeHomes Initiative, “aims to specifically prioritize properties where there are children under six years of age who have elevated blood lead levels, providing owner occupants with helpful partial subsidies for the abatement of lead paint and lead water services.” However, according to reports from the Milwaukee Health Department and data collected by the GTLO, children in owner occupied homes are less likely to be lead poisoned than children living in rental properties, and as stated in the Lead Evaluation Plan for Occupied City-Owned Residential Properties Prepared for the Milwaukee Common Council July 1, 2018, the risk of lead poisoning is highest for households who entered into a lease with the City of Milwaukee and include children under the age of six and/or pregnant women. The SafeHomes Initiative would purportedly, “focus on doing everything we can to abate lead hazards and to protect young children with elevated blood levels who are at highest risk,” but if this initiative is only aimed at addressing childhood lead poisoning in owner occupied homes, the data from the Health Department and GTLO does not support this claim.
GTLO has, and will continue to call for major funding for lead abatement. The Health Department estimates that the SafeHomes Initiative would “help abate 37 dwelling units.” However, with upwards of 90,000 homes that need lead paint, lead plumbing, or both abated, we do not feel that this $1 million dollars is an amount that is worthy to be bragged about. If Ald. Dimitrijevic is serious about championing lead abatement in Milwaukee then we would encourage her to express outrage over the miniscule funding devoted to this issue, the unwillingness on the part of the city to fully fund the Health Department, and the misinformation campaign that has been embarked upon by politicians and bureaucrats who seek to downplay the severity of the lead poisoning crisis in Milwaukee.
The rise of lead poisoning cases is extremely alarming and calls for complete and full transparency of this issue once and for all. Dr. Heather Paradis, from Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, stated at a Special Hearing on Lead in Water in the Public Safety and Health Committee meeting in March of 2019 that childhood lead poisoning cases were not only increasing in Milwaukee, but that the amount of lead detected in our children's blood has also been increasing. Specifically, Dr. Paradis stated “We have actually seen the number of children in our community who are hospitalized because of pediatric lead poisoning, hospitalized in need of chelation therapy, those children we have levels of 45 or higher in their bloodstream, rise every two-year period since 2013.” Yes, the number of children in our community with the most extreme lead poisoning has risen since 2013.” Overall, The City of Milwaukee has inadequately responded to the increased lead poisoning cases and lead bloodstream detection in children.
As the childhood lead poisoning in the City of Milwaukee worsened, the City tried to minimize this by presenting doctored/falsified maps that showcased eliminated lead poisoned areas. The GTLO has raised our concerns over such a scandal numerous times and alerted Milwaukee County Supervisors to the seriousness of falsifying maps to the community. When the Milwaukee Health Department or affiliated partners present doctored/falsified maps it distorts the discourse to the public and denies the realistic extent and severity of lead poisoning in Milwaukee. Our concern is that families are under a false impression that their children are not at risk of lead poisoning, due to the inaccurate and deceptive map data presented. In essence, this lie perpetuates the false belief that filtering drinking water is unnecessary.
From the Chair of the Public Health and Safety Committee, we expect honesty and transparency, especially over such a serious matter that is affecting the children of Milwaukee County. We demand that The Department of Administration's Information and Technology Management Division stop removing the data on the 2016 and 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning maps, as the presentation of doctored maps with the removal of data strategically places families on the East Side, Bay View, and the west side of the city at serious risk.
Our complaint regarding doctored Childhood Lead Poisoning Maps is as follows:
In the document, City of Milwaukee Health Department Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Assessment of Operations and Recommendations for Corrective Actions January 29, 2018, presented to the Milwaukee Common Council on January 31st 2018, the map of Childhood Lead Poisoning Density by Aldermanic District, 2016 represents lead poisoning from Low to High (page 10, Figure 1.6). This was the first official 2016 Childhood Lead Poisoning map presented to the Milwaukee Common Council.
On March 5th, 2018 the 2016 Childhood Lead Poisoning Density map was changed from a Low to High representation of lead poisoning to instead show the number of lead poisoned children per square mile. The first category of (1-9) children per square mile was deleted from the new map in order to make childhood lead poisoning in Milwaukee appear less severe. The legend for this new map shows the data for 2016 Lead Poisonings per sq. mi. starting at (10-49.9), leaving the first category of data off the map, and not included in the map's legend either.
This new map was presented in multiple documents; 1.) City of Milwaukee Health Department City of Milwaukee – Lead Dashboard at the Milwaukee Nutrition & Lead Task Force Meeting on Monday, May 7th, 2018 at Hunger Task Force, 2.) City of Milwaukee Health Department Targeting Resources to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposure in Milwaukee at Data Day on May 30, 2018 hosted by Data You Can Use ,and 3.) The League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County November program: Addressing Lead Issues - A Milwaukee Focus on November 17, 2018. At this meeting, members of the GTLO raised concerns that this new doctored map was misleading and a detriment to the public.
GTLO presented our concerns on this matter to Milwaukee’s Common Council in a private meeting in December of 2018. We also presented these concerns through an official Communication File to the “Rules and Steering Committee” on February 14th, 019 and in a Special Hearing on Lead and Drinking Water in the “Public Safety and Health Committee” on March 22nd, 2019. Through Communication File 181610, we raised our concerns as to the ramification of this unethical practice upon our communities, and demanded the City to please terminate unethical practices of mapping childhood lead poisoning.
Why does the City still show the data on the 2012-2016 Infant Death Map, for less than 10 Infants that died in a square mile area (the lowest category of data), if they had to remove the lowest category of data on the 2016 Childhood Lead Poisoning Map for privacy concerns? It is irresponsible to remove the lowest category of data on the 2016 Childhood Lead Poisoning Map due to privacy concerns, and yet leave it on the 2012-2016 Infant Death Map.
The Department of Administration's Information and Technology Management Division (ITMD) is doctoring the data again on the most recent Childhood Lead Poisoning Density map. The latest 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning map, presented at the Lead Safe Advisory Committee’s Introductory Meeting, held on August 27, 2020, has removed data from certain areas of the city where we recognize that lead poisoning continues to occur. The City deceives the families on the East Side, Bay View, and the West Side by assigning a false narrative that ignores the grave risks of lead poisoning of their children.
The most recent 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning Density map is represented numerically and the lowest category of poisoned children, (0-9) children per square mile, is now represented in the gray areas, referred to as the basemap. The basemap is currently considered the lowest category of data (0-9) in the map's legend. ITMD made it appear as though lead poisoning cases in Milwaukee were decreasing when they aren’t.
Not only does this occur in Milwaukee's poorer areas but in more affluent neighborhoods as well. The City is removing the data from maps in the wealthier areas of the city where high valued homes exist. The City maintains the belief system that removal of lead poisoned areas from the map is imperative, so that wealthier families lack an understanding that they reside in a neighborhood with poisoned children. The threat of lead in drinking water is a genuine concern in wealthier areas and elected officials refuse to make efforts to inform these families. The Department of Administration's Information and ITMD is doctoring the 2016 Childhood Lead poisoned map and the 2018 Childhood Lead Poisoning map.
The massive deception of the City to the public is alarming. Given this City's promise of greater transparency and its acknowledgement of its prior failures regarding the lead poisoning crisis, these efforts to deceive the public are unconscionable. Enough is enough. The citizens are fed up with the lethal childhood lead poisoning charade. We understand that the City is perpetually in denial that lead in drinking water is a critical issue. The infantile and insulting discourse of City officials and their stakeholders to the citizens is appalling, as they sophomorically insist to use filters as a deterrent to living with lead in the drinking water.
City Officials must terminate presenting doctored maps to the public. We understand that lead poisoning is a City- and County-wide issue and we demand honest maps and transparent discourse. The City cannot create a better, equitable budget while it refuses to honestly depict the issue to its policy makers, who must have complete, accurate data and not doctored, misleading information!
References
Link to Map Document:
