Public Health News: New York City

Last year, New York City Council Member Espinal spearheaded a pilot program for electric school buses, however, the buses are still not on the road. We organized a press conference with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the Council Member to urge the NYC Department of Education to clean its school bus fleet.

A City Council bill that requires a transition to clean school buses would improve air quality and protect children’s health.

Slowly but surely, school districts across the country are initiating programs to introduce electric school buses as a cleaner way for students to get to school.

Every year, NYLCV reviews the NYC Mayor’s Executive Budget and sets budget priorities that help advance New York City’s sustainability agenda.

New York City released its roadmap to eliminate childhood lead exposure by 2029 by expanding blood-lead screening in children, increased enforcement and interagency collaboration, and increasing public education on lead risks. NYLCV believes that while all of these measures will help reduce incidences of lead poisoning, the most critical step towards eliminating lead in paint and dust, the main source of exposure in children, is stronger enforcement that are on the books.

As we all know, traditional pesticides contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to people and our environment. One of the more interesting sustainable alternatives we recently learned about is the small and colorful ladybug.

The New York City Council held a hearing on lead poisoning prevention and to discuss a package of 25 new bills aimed at combating lead hazards. In our testimony we emphasized the need to optimize and streamline efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning.