Hey, Kids, Get The Lead Out!

By Sora Song

Lead poisoning may not be high on the list of things most Americans are worried about these days, but several articles in last week's New England Journal of Medicine suggest that a little more worrying may be in order--especially for parents of young children. High levels of environmental lead have long been considered dangerous, but researchers now find that even low levels of lead in the blood--levels well below what used to be deemed safe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)--are associated with dramatic drops in IQ in young children. A study that tested children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years found that those with a blood-lead level of 10 mcg per deciliter (the CDC's current safety threshold) had, on average, a 7.4-points-lower IQ than children with 1 mcg per deciliter. Since the mid-1970s, when lead was taken out of gasoline, the median blood-lead levels in children have dropped from 15 mcg to 2 mcg per deciliter, but the CDC estimates that there are still more than 450,000 kids in the U.S. with blood-lead levels above its recommended limit. One of the most dangerous sources: the lead-based paints that still coat the walls of some 38 million homes, most built before 1960. --By Sora Song