City of Cleveland cracking down on lead safety in houses

Emma Henderson looks at how the city of Cleveland is fighting back against lead poisoning in houses.

Silent, but devastating. That's how University Hospitals pediatrician Dr. Dieter Sumerauer sums up the consequences of lead poisoning.

"Lead is actually quite silent," Sumerauer said. "These lowest levels of lead exposure — which lead to the largest decreases in IQ — actually are kind of symptom free in children, and that's what makes them so devastating."

Now, the city of Cleveland has multiple departments working together to make it harder to sell a house with known lead issues.

"These affidavits of fact ensure that, for the first time in our city's history, properties under a lead hazard control order cannot be sold without the explicit knowledge that they are uninhabitable until the lead is properly abated," Mayor Justin Bibb said during his State of the City Address Wednesday evening.

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