In many countries including the US, household paint and dust are the major route of exposure in children. Notable cases
Cases of mass lead poisoning can occur. 15,000 people are being relocated from Jiyuan in central Henan province to other locations after 1000 children living around Chinas largest smelter plant (owned and operated by Yuguang Gold and Lead) were found to have excess lead in their blood. The total cost of this project is estimated to around 1 billion yuan ($150 million). 70% of the cost will be paid by local government and the smelter company, while the rest will be paid by the residents themselves. The government has suspended production at 32 of 35 lead plants. The affected area includes people from 10 different villages.The Zamfara State lead poisoning epidemic occurred in Nigeria in 2010. As of 5 October 2010 at least 400 children have died from the effects of lead poisoning. Prognosis
Reversibility
Outcome is related to the extent and duration of lead exposure. Effects of lead on the physiology of the kidneys and blood are generally reversible; its effects on the central nervous system are not. While peripheral effects in adults often go away when lead exposure ceases, evidence suggests that most of leads effects on a childs central nervous system are irreversible. Children with lead poisoning may thus have adverse health, cognitive, and behavioral effects that follow them into adulthood. Encephalopathy
Lead encephalopathy is a medical emergency and causes permanent brain damage in 70–80% of children affected by it, even those that receive the best treatment.
Although leaded soil is less of a problem in countries that no longer have leaded gasoline, it remains prevalent, raising concerns about the safety of urban agriculture; eating food grown in contaminated soil can present a lead hazard. Interfacial solar evaporation has been recently studied as a technique for remediating lead-contaminated sites, which involves the evaporation of heavy metal ions from moist soil. Water
Lead from the atmosphere or soil can end up in groundwater and surface water. It is also potentially in drinking water, e.g. from plumbing and fixtures that are either made of lead or have lead solder. Since acidic water breaks down lead in plumbing more readily, chemicals can be added to municipal water to increase the pH and thus reduce the corrosivity of the public water supply. Chloramines, which were adopted as a substitute for chlorine disinfectants due to fewer health concerns, increase corrositivity. In the US, 14–20% of total lead exposure is attributed to drinking water. In 2004, a team of seven reporters from The Washington Post discovered high levels of lead in the drinking water in Washington, DC, and won an award for investigative reporting for a series of articles about this contamination. In the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, a switch to a more corrosive municipal water source caused elevated lead levels in domestic tap water.Like Flint MI and Washington DC, a similar situation affects the State of Wisconsin, where estimates call for replacement of up to 176,000 underground pipes made of lead known as lead service lines.