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Kids at Risk: Getting the Lead Out
Reprinted from Food Insight
May/June 1991
A new $1 billion federal initiative to reduce environmental lead exposure is aimed at protecting millions of children from the risk of physical and mental retardation.
The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Housing and Urban Development will join in a comprehensive effort to reduce the major sources of lead in paint, urban soil and dust, and drinking water.
Children, including developing fetuses, provide a well-documented illustration of various ways in which subpopulations may be at increased health risk from certain substances.
According to EPA's J. Michael Davis, children are more vulnerable to lead than adults in terms of the sources, timing and duration of their exposure; the impact on their neurological development; the level of intake on a body weight basis and their absorption and retention levels; and the blood lead concentrations at which adverse health effects occur.
"Lead crosses the placenta in utero," says Davis, "and begins accumulating in tissues and organs even before birth. The peak in average blood lead levels occurs at about two years of age, except for adults who are exposed to lead in industrial smelters or other occupational settings."
Lead in drinking water contributes from 10 percent to 20 percent of total lead exposure in young children. Household tap water varies in lead content. But when mixed with infant formulas, tap water can become a primary source of lead exposure in non-nursing infants during the first six months of life. According to one recent study at Columbia University, lead from fancy crystal baby bottles (not ordinary glass or plastic bottles) also can leach into infant formula and apple juice within several hours.
Particularly worrisome is the latest scientific finding that relatively low-level lead exposure in children can result in delay learning, impaired hearing, growth deficits and behavioral effects.
In a special session at the 1990 American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Meeting, Alan Leviton, M.D., of Children's Hospital in Boston, summarized epidemiological and experimental evidence that children's risk of developmental problems is increased at blood lead levels of 10 to 15 micrograms per deciliter (ug/dl) and possibly lower.
The Centers for Disease Control's current definition of "elevated" blood lead level in 25 ug/dl. This standard is now being revised. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry estimated that in 1984, 3 to 4 million U.S. preschool children had blood levels exceeding 15 ug/dl.
Significant reductions in average blood lead levels of children have been achieved over the past decade, primarily because of the ban on leaded gasoline. In addition, lead solder is now used in less than 4 percent of all food cans, with a total elimination of this manufacturing practice expected later this year. Although dietary exposures to lead are relatively low, Food Chemicals Codex and FDA are examining ways to reduce possible exposures from food additives, dietary supplements, wine and other sources.
As part of the new federal lead initiative, EPA announced new national standards to lower lead levels in drinking water from an average of 50 parts per billion (ppb) to five ppb. Public water suppliers will be required to monitor tap water in households throughout the United States and make improvements in corrosion control and treatment techniques.
Reprinted from the International Food Information Council Foundation, 1991
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