The U.S. Army is putting together a plan to evaluate tens of thousands of homes that have potentially toxic levels of lead, the Army Times reports. The plan comes on the heels of a Reuters report from August 16 which found that more than 1,000 children of soldiers had suffered from lead poisoning while living in on-post housing.
Reuters report was based on documentation showing high levels of lead at Forts Benning, Polk, Riley, Hood, Bliss, Knox, and West Point, all homes of major Army divisions and training centers. The evaluation program will begin in the areas where small children live.
The program would start with homes where small children live, according to Reuters, as they are most at risk for stunted brain development and lifelong health issues.
“Part of the way we make a more lethal force is by ensuring the troops aren’t worried about their families back at home,” Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters on Tuesday. “So this is ― this is a moral obligation we have to the families to provide safe lodging, obviously, for them. And it’s something we take very, very seriously.”
According to the Reuters report, it would cost as much as $386 million to inspect all of the potentially affected homes. The current plan does not specify how long the inspections or repairs of homes would take. It also does not clarify whether the private contractors who manage Army housing will be held responsible.
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