Lowering Your Child’s Risk of Lead Poisoning

Lead is considered to be one of the heavy metals, which can enter our bodies through air, water and food, and are poisonous or toxic at even minimal levels. If a child has high levels of lead in their system, it is likely that they will experience headaches, confusion, stomachaches, vomiting, muscle weakness, seizures, anemia and/or loss of hair. These toxic levels of lead can also cause long-term health problems involving the kidneys, bone marrow and brain, which may result in learning disabilities, coma, seizures or death. Even low lead levels in the body can have serious consequences for children, including trouble learning, difficulty paying attention, behavior problems and other concerns. Cases of lead poisoning are more common in larger cities, probably due to the fact that there are more apartment buildings in these areas where lead paint is often present. For children that live in apartment buildings or homes that were built before 1960, there is a possibility that lead paint may have been used on the walls at some time. Even if that lead paint has been painted over many times, lead poisoning is still a potential hazard to those children if the layers of paint begin to chip or peel. Homes and buildings build before 1978 may also have lead-soldered pipes routing water to faucets and taps. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set safety standards for lead levels in public drinking water, although lead-free drinking water is the safest recommendation. Before 1986, many gasolines had lead as an additive, which permitted that lead to be released into the air for people to breathe. After that year, lead was banned from gasoline after the EPA estimated that about 5,000 Americans had died each year from heart disease linked to lead inhalation. Minimal levels of lead is still present in the air in some places, although that level has dropped significantly since the switch was made to unleaded gasoline.

An estimated 310,000 children in the United States have elevated lead levels in their blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If you are a parent, it is extremely important for you to take every precaution to lower or eliminate your child’s risk of getting lead poisoning. If you live in an older home that may have lead paint or pipes, it is important to have your child’s blood tested for lead by a doctor. If the paint on your walls is peeling, chipping or cracking and there is lead paint present underneath other coats of paint, the paint should be sealed in with a fresh coat or removed completely, which is the safest option. If your home has lead pipes, make sure to run water through the tap for one or two minutes before drinking or cooking if the tap has not been used for several hours. This will wash out any lead that has built up in the water during that time. It may also be beneficial to get a water filtration system for drinking water that may have lead present. However, the safest alternative would be to replace any lead-soldered pipes in your home or apartment. If your child has suffered lead poisoning as a result of the negligence of a landlord, contact the lead poison attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C., serving clients in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk. We offer complimentary case evaluations.

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