More D.C. kids had high lead levels

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- More than twice as many District of Columbia children as previously reported had dangerously high lead levels in their blood, congressional investigators said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported dangerously high lead levels in 193 children in 2003, the worst year for high lead concentrations in city tap water.

But lab data gathered by a House subcommittee this year indicate the actual number was 486 children, investigators found.

Local officials could not say if some children with unsafe lead exposure had gone without intervention to reduce health risks, The Washington Post said.

The new information raises congressional concern about whether the agency properly alerted Washington residents of health risks from unprecedented lead levels in the water, said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., chairman of House Science and Technology Committee's investigations and oversight subcommittee conducting an inquiry into CDC performance.

CDC officials declined to comment on the new data, saying they had not seen it, the Post said.