Milwaukee health officials push back on latest RFK comments about MPS lead crisis

Milwaukee’s health department said Friday, May 23, 2025, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., “continues to misstate the facts” about an ongoing lead crisis in several of the city’s public schools.

Kennedy appeared on CNN Thursday night for an interview segment and was asked about the federal response to the findings of dangerously high lead levels in at least nine Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) buildings. Kennedy said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was assisting the city.

“The CDC is giving them assistance with their labs, their analytics and advice,” Kennedy said.

Caroline Reinwald, a spokesperson for the Milwaukee Health Department, said Kennedy continues to make “mischaracterizations” about how the federal government is aiding the city.

While testifying before Congress earlier this week, Kennedy told lawmakers there was “a team” helping out in Milwaukee, which Reinwald said is simply not true.

“There is no CDC “team” on the ground supporting the City of Milwaukee Health Department’s response to the lead hazard crisis in Milwaukee Public Schools,” Reinwald wrote in an email Friday. “The only recent federal involvement was a short, two-week visit from a single CDC Laboratory Leadership Service fellow to assist with the validation of a new laboratory instrument. While the instrument will be used to process lead samples from across the city, including those related to MPS, this assistance was requested independently of the MPS situation.

In the CNN interview Thursday, Kennedy was asked specifically about his claim there was a “team” in Milwaukee and how that conflicted with the city’s assertion only one person from the CDC helped temporarily on an unrelated matter.

“I can’t tell you how many are on the ground in the city of Milwaukee, but I can tell you we are there,” Kennedy said.

Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin pressed Kennedy about the MPS issue during Tuesday’s hearing. Kennedy said he is not “necessarily believing” what Baldwin said during the hearing.

Kennedy was then asked if he’s outright disputing the claim the CDC has offered only one person to help out with the lead crisis in Milwaukee.

“Like I said, we have 62,000 employees,” Kennedy replied. “I’m not sure how many we have deployed to Milwaukee.”

While he was short on specifics, Kennedy maintained the federal government took the situation in Milwaukee seriously, noting that black kids in urban settings are especially vulnerable to testing positive for elevated lead levels in their blood.

“MHD agrees that lead exposure is a public health crisis, particularly in black and brown communities,” Reinwald wrote in her response. “But Secretary Kennedy’s repeated mischaracterizations do not reflect the reality on the ground in Milwaukee.”

“Words from Washington don’t change the fact that Milwaukee has been left to manage this crisis alone.”