NEWBURGH – Ever since the City of Newburgh’s water supply was found to contain the dangerous chemicals PFOS and PFOA, the state has been providing and paying for blood testing of anyone who wants it.
Mayor Torrance Harvey would like to take that testing one step further and test for lead in residents’ blood.
“My office and the city manager are going to be speaking with the Department of Health at the state level in seeing if there can be some funds set aside where people can go and get tested very similarly to what they did for us with regard to the water contamination; set up specific locations and areas where people can go and tested if it is of concern,” Harvey said. “We are going to work toward making that available, hopefully.”
The concern for potential lead poisoning comes from old lead-based paint in residences where it has chipped or paint dust has been airborne over the years.
