Treating lead poisoning in a child is difficult, but preventing poisoning by treating lead base paint hazards is less difficult. Learn more at this site.            

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Treat lead base paint. Prevent lead poisoning in a child.

 
What is Lead Poisoning?

Lead (Pb) is a basic chemical element, which can be combined with other substances to form lead compounds. A bluish-white metal of bright luster, lead is very soft, highly malleable, ductile, has a low melting point and is resistant to corrosion. These characteristics brought lead into common usage for a variety of products, some of which have included: gasoline, lead base paint, plumbing, fine crystal, electric cable insulation, storage batteries, ammunition and insecticides. However, due to increased awareness and growing concerns about lead poisoning in a child or children, the United States federal government began placing restrictions on the use of lead in some products, including gasoline, insecticides and paint in housing, in the 1970s.

Today, lead poisoning in a child is the leading environmental health risk in America.  The most common lead hazard is lead-contaminated dust. This dust, which can be so tiny that it is invisible to the naked eye, becomes airborne and surface adherent, making it easily accessible, especially for young children, to ingest and/or inhale.

Health Risks of Lead Poisoning in Children

The Center for Disease Control estimates that nearly two million American children under the age of six have at least low-level lead poisoning because of exposure to lead hazards like lead base paint. The CDC also estimates that 10% of all children suffer from lead poisoning. Even children who appear to be healthy can have high levels of lead in their bodies. Children are usually lead poisoned by ingesting the invisible lead-contaminated dust through normal hand-to-mouth activity. A small child may eat lead base paint chips or soil that contains lead. Children also are likely to place their hands or other objects covered with lead-contaminated dust into their mouths. They can breathe in lead-contaminated dust, especially during renovations that disturb painted surfaces. Lead poses a more serious threat to children than to adults because their growing bodies absorb more lead than adult's bodies, and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead hazards. The blood lead level of concern is 10 µg/dl or greater.

Blood lead levels in children of 100 to 150 µg/dl are associated with swelling of the brain, resulting in severe brain damage and even death. Lead exposures this high in the United States are relatively rare today; however, these levels are encountered in industrialized countries that are not controlling lead exposures.

At low exposures, the effects of lead poisoning in a child include:
  • impaired growth
  • hearing loss
  • behavior problems*
  • headaches
  • impaired short-term memory
* Such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).


Health Risks To Pregnancies

Approximately 4.4 million, or 9 percent, of U.S. women of childbearing age have elevated blood lead levels. Lead, which is stored in the bones, moves out of the bones with calcium. If a woman was previously exposed to lead, the lead stored in her body may be released at an accelerated rate as calcium moves from her body to the unborn child, especially if her diet is calcium-deficient.
The tissues of the unborn baby can absorb lead as the infant develops in the womb. The developing brain is extremely vulnerable to the harmful effects of lead during this time. Due to the fact that lead can pass through the placenta to the fetus, a pregnant woman exposed to lead can place her unborn child at an increased risk of:

  • low birth weight
  • learning disabilities
  • birth defects
  • premature birth
  • miscarriage
  • still birth
 

Symptoms of Lead Poisoning

Most people with lead poisoning show no overt symptoms, especially in low-to-moderate cases. Before symptoms appear, lead may cause unseen injury to the body. Symptoms of early stages of lead poisoning may resemble "flu-like" illnesses. Some symptoms may include the following:

Symptoms of lead poisoning in a child:
  • loss of appetite
  • anemia
  • apathy
  • vomiting
  • stupor
  • hyper-irritability
  • clumsiness
  • abdominal pain
  • constipation
  • lethargy
  • listlessness
  • loss of developmental skills
  • loss of muscular coordination
  • colic
Symptoms in adults:
  • stomach cramps
  • muscle aches and pains
  • weight loss
  • anemia
  • vomiting
  • weakness
  • tendency to be aggressive
  • pain in back and lower extremities
 

Checking Your Family For Lead Poisoning

The total impact of lead hazards on the nervous system has only recently been recognized. That means, earlier recommendations on "safe" amounts of lead in blood were dangerously close to levels now considered very likely to cause mental retardation in children. Medical professionals considered blood lead levels of greater than 60 mg/dl to be a health concern in the 1960s. This level was lowered to 25 mg/dl by the 1980s. In October of 1991, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reduced the level of concern to 10 mg/dl.

Your doctor or health center can perform a simple blood test that will detect lead in your body. The blood test is inexpensive and sometimes free. Your doctor will explain what the test results mean. Blood tests are important for children who are six months to one year old, and for family members who may have high exposure to leaded dust from lead base paint and other hazards. Lead tests may be important in certain areas as early as 6 months of age, and should be done routinely in many areas as early as one year of age. For further information, contact your local health department or the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-LEAD-FYI.

Learn how to clean up lead base paint by clicking Here

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White Plains, NY 10603
Phone: 914-948-3797
Fax: 914-948-4088
info@ledizolv.com