Safe Yards: Improving Urban Health through Lead-Safe Yards

biomedical l interventions and prevention strategies. It is an issue that has been a concern of public health officials for decades and has been addressed quite successfully from a national perspective. By eliminating two major sources of exposures—leaded gasoline and leaded paint—blood lead levels for the majority of Americans have dropped dramatically over the past two decades. Unfortunately, for those who live in poorly maintained housing in older urban neighborhoods, environmental lead continues to pose health threats, particularly for those under the age of six. The threats of lead poisoning are most prevalent in poor, minority, and immigrant communities and are compounded by additional environmental hazards including indoor air contaminants (e.g., allergens, combustion by-products, volatile organic compounds, pesticides) and neighborhood factors such as deteriorating infrastructure, housing demolition, abandoned housing, congested roadways, violence, industrial land uses, and vacant land. These environmental hazards are signals of compromised neighborhoods and are linked to declines in community health.