ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 216
(By Senators Redd, Burnette, Caldwell, Hunter, Minard,
Rowe, Snyder, Wooton, Facemyer, Mitchell and Anderson)
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[Passed march 9, 2002; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend article thirty-five, chapter sixteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
four-a, relating to the screening of children under six years
of age for lead poisoning.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article thirty-five, chapter sixteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four-a,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. LEAD ABATEMENT.
§16-35-4a. Duty of director to establish program for early
identification of lead poisoning in children.
(a) The director shall establish a program for early
identification of cases of lead poisoning. The program shall
include a systematic screening of all children under six years of age for the presence of lead poisoning. The director shall, after
consultation with recognized professional medical groups and such
other sources as he deems appropriate, propose legislative rules
establishing: (1) The means by which and the intervals at which
children under six years of age shall be screened for lead
poisoning; and (2) guidelines for the medical follow-up of children
found to be lead poisoned. Such identification program shall, to
the extent that all children residing in this state are not
systematically screened, give priority in screening to children
residing, or who have recently resided, in areas where significant
numbers of lead poisoning cases have recently been reported or
where other reliable evidence indicates that significant numbers of
lead poisoning cases may be found. If the director is informed of
any person having a medically confirmed elevated blood-lead level,
the director shall cause to have screened all other children under
six years of age, and such other children as he or she finds
advisable to screen, residing or recently residing in the household
of the victim, unless the parents of such child object to the
screening because it conflicts with their religious beliefs and
practices. The results of the screenings shall be reported to the
director, to the person or agency reporting the original case and
to such other persons or agencies as the director deems advisable.
(b) The director shall maintain comprehensive records of all
screenings conducted pursuant to this section. The records shall be
geographically indexed in order to determine the location of areas
of relatively high incidence of lead poisoning. The records shall be public records, except that the names of screened individuals
may not be public. A summary of the results of all screenings
conducted pursuant to this section shall be released quarterly, or
more frequently if the director so determines, to all interested
parties.
(c) All cases or probable cases of lead poisoning, as defined
by legislative rule proposed by the director, found in the course
of screenings conducted pursuant to this section shall be reported
immediately to the affected individual, to a child's parent or
legal guardian if the child is a minor, and to the director. The
director shall inform such persons or agencies as the director
determines is advisable of the existence of the case or probable
case of lead poisoning.