New York City did not take action to remove children from 34 public housing apartments where “conclusive evidence” of lead paint was found, according to a report by the New York Post.

The New York City Housing Authority was allowed to appeal the findings of their own inspectors, while the children continued to be exposed to the dangerous chemical element.

“It seems especially heinous that the agency that is supposed to be protecting children finds out that children are lead paint-poisoned, finds the apartment has lead and then allows the landlord — a public landlord — to get away with not abating the lead,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit for The Legal Aid Society.  “This means a kid that has already been poisoned could get worse and that other children that come to that apartment could be poisoned.”

“I think the question here needs to be asked of the department of health. They know how many more apartments there are where this happened and the question needs to be asked why did you not require them to abate this,” she continued.

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