About the Maine Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

The Maine Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (MCLPPP) has been operating in the Bureau of Health since 1992. The MCLPPP program is funded primarily by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and receives a small amount of general fund monies to support the program’s activities. Staffed by 3 full time positions: a program manager, a nurse coordinator and an environmental coordinator, the MCLPPP program is responsible for the following activities:

1. Monitor and analyze the roughly 16,000 blood lead test results submitted each year.

2. Identify individual children with elevated blood lead levels and work with the families, their doctors and lead inspectors to make sure their lead levels go back down to normal.

3. Provide lead poisoning education to professionals, parents, and the public.

The state and the MCLPPP program are fully committed to a goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning by the year 2010. We know that in order to achieve that goal, we need to focus more attention on preventing lead poisoning before it occurs. To reach that goal, we convened an Advisory Council in 2004, called the Lead Elimination Advisory council of Maine or LEAd-ME, to draft and help implement a Strategic Plan for the Elimination of Childhood Lead Poisoning in Maine. Work is underway to put into operation the activities the council identified that are needed to meet our goal.

Program INFORMATION

About the Maine Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program