Gov. Snyder tasks board with eliminating child lead exposure

(AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder created a new board on Friday to eliminate children's exposure to lead statewide, saying the state needs to do more than just reduce exposure to the harmful chemical in the wake of the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint.

The Republican governor, whose administration has been deemed primarily responsible for the public health emergency, formed the board with an executive order and tasked it with recommending a strategy to protect children from all sources of lead poisoning.

In March, a task force that investigated the Flint disaster recommended re-establishing the panel, partly to review the state's ability to meet federal requirements that all young children enrolled in Medicaid be screened for lead with a blood test.

A state epidemiologist found a concerning pattern in Flint, while a state lead poisoning program data manager concluded the opposite under a "fundamentally flawed" analysis, the report said.

The Guard is winding down its monthslong participation in distributing bottled water, filters and testing kits to residents who have been told not to drink unfiltered tap water.