The Philadelphia Lead Court (PLC) was created as an innovative law enforcement strategy to compel property owners to comply with city health codes to remediate their properties of lead hazards, which had led to elevated blood lead levels and lead poisoning in resident children. This study presents a detailed account of and analyzes the opinions of fifteen key informants drawn from the Philadelphia health and law departments and judicial system that staff and run the PLC in response to a fifteen-question structured survey.
This article evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehensive rental housing–based lead law adopted in Rochester, New York, in 2005 by integrating analyses of city inspections data, a survey of landlords, landlord focus groups, and health department data on children’s blood lead levels from the first 4 years of implementation of the 2005 law. Although many uncertainties remain, this study's analysis suggests that the lead law has had a positive impact on children’s health.
Although lead paint was banned by federal law in 1978, it continues to poison children living in homes built before that time. Federal and state laws have reduced rates of lead poisoning significantly in the past three decades. However, pockets of high rates of lead poisoning remain, primarily in low-income urban neighborhoods with older housing stock. Recently, several municipalities have passed local lead laws to reduce lead hazards in high-risk areas. This analysis suggests that local laws hold great promise for reducing lead hazards in children's homes.
This article demonstrates experimentally that individuals making decisions about their health management are affected by the decision making environment and that law and policy can serve important roles in improving the decision environment.
Concerns about a dearth of antibiotic innovation have spurred calls for incentives to speed the development of new antibiotics. The data from this study suggest that policymakers should be focused on the clinical quality of the new drugs, not just the raw number of new drugs introduced to the market each year. In other words, quality over quantity should be the focus.
This study determined whether Philadelphia Lead Court is effective in enforcing lead hazard remediation in the homes of children with elevated blood lead levels.
A variety of laws and legislatively enabled regulations attempt to reduce sodium in the food supply, including lowering the amount of salt in foods served in schools and child care facilities or purchased by state-regulated elder and health care facilities and prisons. Through incentives to develop grocery vendors in areas without them, at least five states provide more low sodium, high potassium fresh fruits and vegetables for our diets.
Center for Public Health Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania
Scott Burris, JD •
Center for Public Health Law Research
Alexander Wagenaar, PhD •
Emory University
This study, published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, details state distracted-driving policy across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study finds, as of 2011, 39 states and the District of Columbia had at least one form of restriction on the use of mobile communication devices in effect..
