ATLANTA – For the first time in 20 years, a federal panel is urging the government to lower the threshold for lead poisoning in children.
If adopted, hundreds of thousands more children could be diagnosed with lead poisoning. Too much lead is harmful to developing brains and can mean a lower IQ.
While the number of cases has been falling, health officials think as many as 250,000 children have the problem, many of those undiagnosed.
Recent research persuaded panel members that children could be harmed from lead levels in their blood that are lower than the old standard, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Wednesday’s vote by the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention would lower the definition of lead poisoning for young children from 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood to 5 micrograms. The CDC has accepted all of the panel’s recommendations in the past.
Lead — a metal that for years was common in paint and gasoline — can harm a child’s brain, kidneys and other organs. High levels in the blood can cause coma, convulsions and death. Lower levels can reduce intelligence, impair hearing and behavior and cause other problems.
Usually, the victims are children living
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
