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Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is shown in this Flint Journal file photo. She's been appointed to a new Child Lead Exposure Elimination Commission by Gov. Rick Snyder.
(Flint Journal file photo)
LANSING, MI -- Gov. Rick Snyder has signed an executive order creating the Child Lead Exposure Elimination Commission and appointing Flint pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha as one of its inaugural members.
Snyder's office announced the commission's formation in a news release Thursday, March 16.
"Eliminating the risk of child lead exposure will require the coordination and expertise of people across all sectors," Snyder said in the announcement. "Creating this permanent commission will help advance the strategies recommended to better protect Michigan children from lead exposure."
Creation of a commission was a recommendation of the Child Lead Poisoning Elimination Board, which was chaired by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. The 15-member commission will focus on the implementation of the board's recommendations and will monitor the state's efforts to eliminate lead exposure in children, the governor's news release says.
Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who found a drastic rise in the percentage of Flint children with elevated blood lead levels after the city's use of the Flint River as a drinking water source, was appointed to a three-year term on the commission.
Other members appointed to three-year terms were Tina Reynolds of East Lansing, health policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council; and Al Vanderberg of Grand Rapids, administrator of Ottawa County.
Members appointed to two-year terms were Rebecca Meuninck of Ann Arbor, deputy director of the Ecology Center; Paul Haan of Grand Rapids, executive director of the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, Inc.; and Lyke Thompson of Ann Arbor, director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University.
Members appointed to one-year terms were Christine Callahan of DeWitt, director of the Office of Innovative Projects for the Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency; Missy Challiss of Holt, a public health nurse for the Ingham County Health Department; Jeffrey Harthun of Bear Lake, a sixth-grade teacher at Bear Lake Elementary School; and Bill Ridella of Detroit, director and health officer for the Macomb County Health Department.
The Governor's Office said other voting members of the commission are Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Nick Lyon, DHHS director or his designee; Heidi Grether, director of the Department of Environmental Quality, or her designee; Shelly Edgerton, director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, or her designee; and Earl Poleski, executive director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, or his designee.