CDC misled public on health risks of lead in D.C. water, investigation finds http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/19/AR2010051902599.html?hpid=topnews

The nation's premier public health agency knowingly used flawed data to claim that high lead levels in the District's drinking water did not pose a health risk to the public, a congressional investigation has found. And, investigators determined, the agency has not publicized its later internal research showing the problem did harm children and continues to endanger thousands of city residents.

A House investigative subcommittee concludes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made "scientifically indefensible" claims in 2004 that high lead in the water was not causing any noticeable harm to the health of city residents. The CDC hurriedly published its analysis though officials knew the research relied on incomplete and misleading blood test results that played down the health impact, the investigation found.

The House science and technology subcommittee investigation, scheduled to be released Thursday, was spurred last year by other scientific journals and Washington Post reporting showing that the 2004 CDC analysis was missing many test results for children who had lead poisoning. With its final report, the committee reveals the missing data showed clear harm to children from the water problem -- and that CDC authors knew the data were flawed and in several instances ignored clear indications that their analysis improperly played down the lead risk. It finds the CDC ultimately misled the public and failed in its primary duty.