Old paint is the chief source of lead poisoning in children. Old
paint is the chief source of lead poisoning in children.
iStockphoto.com How much lead does it take to ruin a brain? Not
much, according to a new standard proposed for lead poisoning in
children. The amount of lead in a child's blood that determines
dangerous lead exposure should be cut in half, from the current
standard of 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood to 5 micrograms
for ages 5 and below, a federal advisory committee said
Wednesday. That in itself would be a big step, and would double
the number of young children in the United States officially
considered to have lead poisoning to almost 500,000. But the
panel that recommended the changes went further, saying it
should no longer be acceptable to wait until children have been
harmed for something to be done. As the Advisory Committee on
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention's draft report put it:
"Primary prevention is necessary because the effects of lead
appear to be irreversible." That