What Everyone Should Know About Lead

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Lead Poisoning Prevention

• What Everyone Should Know About Lead

Lead Safe Families is a program of the Southern
New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative, a non-profit
agency serving families since 1982. LSF and Wipe
Out Lead NJ are funded by the NJ Dept. of
Community Affairs.
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What is Lead?

• A highly toxic, heavy metal element
• No living thing needs it
• Used in many products

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Where is Lead Found?

• Lead Based Paint
• Soil
• Water
• Occupations Hobbies
• Food and Cosmetics
• Household Items
• Folk Remedies

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Major Source of Lead Poisoning

• Lead paint banned in homes in US in 1978.
• Lead dust is produced from lead paint as the
  paint gets older or damaged
• You cannot see lead dust.

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Lead Poisoning

• A serious but preventable health problem
• Lead is easily absorbed into the body
• Can cause problems in the brain, nervous system
  and body.
• Children under the age of 7 and pregnant women
  are at greatest risk
• Even children who seem healthy may have high
  levels of lead in their blood

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How Kids Get Lead Poisoning

• Ingestion
• Hand to mouth activity
• Paint dust, paint chips, contaminated soil,
  drinking water, food
• Breathing
• Breeze
• Renovations
• Children may inhale fumes if paint is heated
• During pregnancy

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Effects of Lead in Children

• Even small amounts of lead can lead to permanent
  damage to the brain and nervous system
• Behavioral problems hyperactivity, ADD, ADHD
• Learning problems , mental retardation
• Brain Damage
• Lower reading, vocabulary, and math scores in
  school
• Speech and language difficulties
• Emotional problems anger, aggression,
  depression
• Discipline problems, school absenteeism,
  delinquency
• Poor attention span
• Lower IQ

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Leads Lasting Impact

• Affects every system of body
• Young children are at greatest risk
• Especially harmful to developing brain and
  nervous system
• Damage may be permanent

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Other Effects of Childhood Lead Poisoning

• Headaches
• Hearing problems / hearing loss
• Anemia
• Kidney damage
• Delayed or slowed development
• Decreased muscle and bone growth
• Clumsiness / slow reflexes
• Joint pains
• Stomach cramps

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Leads Effects on Childrens Bodies

• Consequences of High Exposure
• Seizures / Convulsions
• Unconsciousness
• Coma
• Death

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Effects in Pregnancy

• Lead crosses the placenta
• Lead stored in bones may be released into blood
  (and carried through blood to fetus)
• Prematurity
• Low Birth Weight
• Miscarriage or Stillbirth

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Symptoms of Lead Poisoning

• Symptoms are rare, and common to other childhood
  ailments
• Stomach aches, stomach cramps
• Headaches
• Joint and muscle pain
• Fatigue
• Sleep disorders
• Most lead-poisoned kids show NO symptoms until
  the damage is already done
• It can be difficult to convince landlords and
  parents

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• Lead poisoned children are 6 times more likely to
  have learning disabilities

Jessica Wolpaw Reyes (2007) Environmental
Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood
Lead Exposure on Crime, The B.E. Journal of
Economic Analysis Policy Vol. 7 Iss. 1
(Contributions), Article 51.
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• Lead poisoned children are 7 times more likely to
  drop out of high school

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• Lead poisoned children are robbed of nearly
  200,000 in lifetime earnings because of lost IQ

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When lead poisoned children suffer, we all
suffer!

• Higher taxes
• Cost of Special Education
• Higher Medical Insurance
• Welfare / Social Service Program costs
• Criminal Justice System
• Quality of Life for Society

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Testing

• Lead-poisoned children rarely show obvious
  symptoms
• A blood test is the only way to know whether your
  child has lead poisoning
• Finger stick (Capillary / filter paper)
• Venous draw

A SIMPLE BLOOD TEST CAN PREVENT A LIFETIME
SPOILED BY THE IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGED CAUSED BY
LEAD POISONING.
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Who Should Be Tested?

• All children must be tested for lead at
• 9-18 months (best at 1 year), and
• 18-26 months (best at 2 years)
• Any child under the age of 6 years who has never
  been tested for lead should be tested immediately.

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Who Should Be Tested?

• At other ages - if your child is at risk
• Lives in or regularly visits a house or daycare
  built before 1978
• Lives with or frequently visits an adult whose
  job or hobby involves lead (painters, home
  improvement workers, fishermen, etc.)
• If another child in the home tests positive for
  lead
• All children are at risk for lead poisoning

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If a Child Has Elevated Blood Lead

• Check childs environment for sources of lead
• Remove as many sources as possible
• Use prevention strategies!
• OR
• Remove child from sources
• Chelation
• Hospitalization

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Even low levels cause damage!

• Know the Number

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How Families Can Protect Children

• Reduce risk from lead paint
• Keep home clean with Special Methods
• Good nutrition
• Good hygiene
• Get lead out of drinking water
• Dont bring lead in
• Remove paint safely / dont remove lead paint
  yourself
• GET CHILD TESTED
• Know the Number

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• The most effective prevention strategy is to
  identify lead hazards before the child is ever
  exposed.

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Wipe Out Lead New Jersey

• A primary prevention approach to reduce childhood
  lead poisoning

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Who is Eligible ?

• Free kits are available to
• Pregnant women
• Families with small children
• Home or apartment built before 1978, or of
  unknown age

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Partnering with WOLNJ

• Become a Wipe Out Lead NJ Provider Partner by
  distributing lead test kits to your families.
• Distribute kit request postcards to interested
  families
• Talk with your families on a regular basis about
  lead
• Identify other Provider Partners to help
  distribute test kits
• Identify Community Organizations, Parent
  Meetings, Tenant Associations and other groups
  for Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Education

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Enrolment Form
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Results Letters
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What if lead is found?

• WOL staff will send prevention information.
• If lead levels are high, we will telephone
• Recommend blood tests for children
• Education on nutrition, hygiene, special cleaning
• Referrals to other agencies (WIC, EI, DCA, HD,
  etc.)
• Interim Controls
• LHCA fund loans

The Federal Govt. defines hazardous as gt
40µg/ft2 for floors and gt 250µg/ft2 for
windowsills.
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LHCA Fund Loans

• Money is available to homeowners and landlords to
  fix lead hazards
• NJ provides low interest (3 interest deferred
  payment) loans
• Property owners from all income levels can apply
• Low-income households may not have to pay back
  the loan.
• All credit histories are considered.
• LSF staff helps complete the paperwork.
• There does not need to be a lead-poisoned child
  in the
• property!

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More about lead sources

• Lead Based Paint
• Soil
• Water
• Occupations Hobbies
• Food and Cosmetics
• Household Items
• Toys
• Folk Remedies

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State Resources

• Wipe Out Lead New Jersey 1-888-722-2903
• NJ DHSS Family Health Line 1-800-328-3838
• Department of Community Affairs 1-877-DCA-LEAD
• Local County And City Health Departments
• Legal Services of New Jersey 1-888-LSNJ-LAW
• State and Regional Childhood Lead Poisoning
  Prevention Task Forces and Coalitions

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National Resources

• Poison Control
• [phone]
• Automatically connects callers to their local
  poison control center
• National Lead Information Center (NLIC)
• (800) 424-LEAD (or 1-800-424-5323)
• www.epa.gov/lead/nlic.htm
• Information about lead hazards and their
  prevention
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  (CDC)
• [phone]
• Promotes state and local screening efforts
  develops improved treatments for lead exposure

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National Resources contd

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
• [phone]
• Identifies and regulates sources of lead exposure
  in consumer products
• Office of Safe Drinking Water Hotline
• [phone] 900 a.m. - 530 p.m. Eastern
  Time Monday - Friday.
• Information on groundwater issues and
  regulations/programs developed in response to the
  Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986 and
  1996
• Toxics Release Inventory
• EPCRA - Information on Industrial Lead Releases
• [phone] (EPCRA Call Center) [phone]
  (TDD)
• Published by the U.S. EPA, provides information
  regarding toxic chemicals used, manufactured,
  treated, transported, or released into the
  environment

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Web Resources

• Wipe Out Lead New Jersey
• www.snjpc.org/programs/wipeoutlead.html
• Lead Safe New Jersey
• www.leadsafenj.org
• EPA- Lead in Paint, Dust and Soil
• www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/indes.html
• HUD- Office of Healthy Homes Lead Hazard
  Control
• www.hud.gov/offices/lead/index.cfm
• Alliance for Healthy Homes
• www.aeclp.org