- The ARC - California Edition -

Lead Danger Underestimated?

The mineral LEAD is found everywhere. LEAD poisoning currently is considered to occur when the amount of LEAD in a person’s bloodstream is greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter. A physician, Dr. Bruce Lanphear who works at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, has a different opinion.

During the recent annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Baltimore, Maryland, this researcher presented arguments that there is no safe level of blood LEAD, especially in children. 

Lanphear presented the results of a study where he had found that children with blood containing LEAD at the levels now considered safe scored an average of 11.1 points lower on the Stanford-Binet IQ test than a control group of children with blood that contained amounts of LEAD that measured 1 microgram per deciliter or less.

The ingestion of LEAD by children is usually caused by inhaling LEAD dust or eating chips of LEAD paint, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

LEAD-based paint was widely used in the painting of homes until its manufacture was banned over twenty years ago. Currently, the most common childhood exposures to LEAD are found in older housing.

High levels of LEAD poisoning can result in mental retardation, convulsions and coma. For additional information, contact the following sources: