| By :
Wendy Moyer
Although people have been using lead for thousands of years, the modern recognition that small amounts of lead can cause a large amount of harm was not known until the second half of the twentieth century. Since then It has been determined that there is no safe threshold for being exposed to lead. In other words, no amount of lead is too small to harm the human body. Although exposure to lead is not good for anyone, infants, children, and fetuses are considerably more vulnerable to being exposed to lead than adults are because lead is more easily absorbed into bodies as they grow. In addition, children's tissues are more sensitive to the adverse effects of lead. Excessive exposure to lead paint can affect a child's growth, cause brain damage, damage their kidneys, impair their hearing, cause them to vomit, give them headaches, cause behavioral problems and make them irritable, cause permanent learning problems, and cause them to lose their appetite. And in severe cases it could cause coma, seizures, and death. The heavy metal lead is toxic to a lot of tissues and organs that include the heart, kidneys, bones, intestines, and nervous and reproductive systems. Although children can be poisoned by lead if they are exposed to lead in the water, air, soil, food, or consumer products, the most common cause of lead poisoning is the lead paint that exists in many of the older homes in the United States. The US government banned the use of lead-based paints for use in housing more than thirty years ago. But there are about 24 million housing units in the US that were painted with lead paint before that time that are now deteriorating. And when lead paint deteriorates the amount of lead-contaminated house dust inevitably increases. Right now approximately one-sixth of the homes that have lead paint have one or more young children living in them. The children that are at the greatest risk live in homes where the lead paint is chipping. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that if you have young children you should have them tested for lead poisoning at their six month checkup if your home has lead paint, and their one-year checkup, whether or not you have lead paint in your home. The CDC set a10 micrograms of lead per deciliter level of concern for the substance. If you live in a home with lead paint you can help to protect your children and yourself by having items that contain lead paint, such as blinds or piping, removed.
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