By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – A task force created to oversee lead remediation efforts in the city of St. Louis says 13 percent of all children tested in the last year have lead poisoning.
The Mayor's Lead Safe St. Louis task force says since last January, just over 10,000 children under age six have been screened for high lead levels in their blood.
Program director Jeanine Arrighi says that's about 36 percent of all children in that age group living in the city.
"If we extrapolate that over the year, it looks like we're going to be testing about 48 percent of the population," Arrighi said. "Last year we tested 42 percent."
The task force reported the findings in its first annual report.
Officials are trying to eliminate all cases of childhood lead poisoning in the city of St. Louis by 2010.