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8.30.2001 00:05
A move to stamp out lead poisoning
• A national advocacy group is highlighting the plight of a Providence child in its effort to convince the U.S. Postal Service to create a fundraising stamp.
BY PETER B. LORD
Journal Environment Writer
A national advocacy group is using the story of a lead-paint poisoned child in Providence to try to convince the U.S. Postal Service to create a stamp that would raise money to clean up lead-paint problems around the country.
The Washington-based Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning hopes the stamp would be as successful as the one other fundraising stamp that the U.S. Postal Service now sells. That stamp has raised about $22 million for breast-cancer research.
The Postal Service is considering proposals to create a stamp for a cause that is "in the national public interest" because the breast-cancer "semipostal" stamp -- one that includes an additional fee -- is scheduled to be discontinued July 29, 2002.
The alliance is distributing letters across the country that briefly tell the story of Burnadette Jordan and her 4-year-old son, Shonnell. The two were key figures in a series by The Providence Journal in May about the high rate of lead-paint poisonings in Rhode Island.
The letters feature an incident described in The Journal series in which coaches spurned Shonnell's attempts to try out for a baseball team because they saw him try to bite his mother. Shonnell's mother said he has been hyperactive since he was poisoned by lead paint outside the family's apartment in Providence.
"Shonnell's case is all too common in America," the letter reads. "Lead poisoning is the number-one environmental disease among young children in the U.S. Lead exposure causes irreversible brain damage, reduction in IQ, shortened attention span, behavioral problems and learning disabilities."
Supporters are being asked to sign the letters and send them to Dr. Virginia M. Noelke, head of the Postal Service's Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C.
Khai Nguyen, who is working on the lobbying campaign for the alliance, said she read about Shonnell in online versions of the stories linked to the alliance's Web site. She said she thought they helped show the personal consequences of lead poisoning.
Nguyen said she didn't try to contact the Jordans.
Burnadette Jordan said yesterday she was unaware of the lobbying campaign.
But she said she thought the effort was wonderful, "especially if no more kids would get sick."
Little has changed for Jordan and her three children since May. They've been homeless and living with relatives since they left the apartment where all three children were found with elevated lead levels. Even though they've been approved for federal housing assistance, they can't find a landlord willing to rent to them.
"My thing every day is wake up, and walk. Wake up and walk," Jordan said. She tracks down apartments advertised in newspapers and those where signs are posted. But landlords keep telling her their apartments are already rented, or they aren't big enough.
Shonnell starts kindergarten next week, Jordan said. Despite medication, he still has a lot of energy, she said.
Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton took part when the first semipostal stamp for breast-cancer research was issued in 1998. It sells for 40 cents and can be used for first-class postage. (The 7-cent surcharge goes to cancer research.)
The lead-paint advocates don't have such a high-profile sponsor. But Nguyen said she hopes their proposal has a good chance for approval because there's already plenty of public awareness for many other issues, but lead-poisoning solutions need the publicity and funding boost that the stamp would provide.
Postal Service spokesman Don Smeraldi said he wasn't certain how many other causes are in contention for the stamp. The deadline for filing proposals is tomorrow.
There's also some talk in Congress, he said, of extending the sales period for the breast-cancer stamps. In the meantime, the Postal Service is continuing with its plans to select a new stamp this fall.
For more information, contact Nguyen online at knguyen@alclp.org or by calling (202) 543-1147.
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