Lead Poisoning: Get the Facts about the Threat
While many potential threats to childhood safety feel new, lead poisoning is a decades-old concern. Protecting your family from the devastating effects of lead remains a critical task for any parent, as childhood lead poisoning remains a major environmental health problem in the United States.
At UL, we want to make sure you have the information you need to keep your family protected. Make sure you know your facts about lead poisoning, and when in doubt, consult with your family physician for more information. The following information was compiled from the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest reports.
Lead Poisoning: A Primer
People can get lead in their body if they:
- Put their hands or other objects covered with lead dust in their mouths
- Eat paint chips or soil that contains lead
- Breathe in lead dust, especially during renovations that disturb painted surfaces
Lead is more dangerous to children because:
- Babies and young children often put their hands and other objects in their mouths that may contain lead
- Children’s growing bodies absorb more lead
- Children’s brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead
Symptoms of lead poisoning:
(Note: If you or your child experiences any of the symptoms below in conjunction with suspected lead poisoning, contact your doctor as soon as possible.)
Symptoms of lead poisoning include:
- Headaches
- Irritability
- Abdominal pain
- Vomiting
- Anemia
- Weight loss
- Poor attention span
- Noticeable learning difficulty
- Slowed speech development
- Hyperactivity
Lead can be found in:
- Old homes: In general, the older your home, the more likely it has lead-based paint.
- Paint: The federal government banned lead-based paint from housing in 1978.
- In soil around a home: Soil can pick up lead from exterior paint or other sources such as past use of leaded gas in cars. Additionally, children playing in yards can ingest or inhale lead dust.
- Household dust: Dust from deteriorating lead-based paint or from soil tracked into a home.
- Drinking water: Your home might have plumbing with lead or lead solder. Call your local health department or water supplier to find out about testing your water. You cannot see, smell or taste lead, and boiling your water will not get rid of lead. If you think your plumbing might have lead in it:
- Use only cold water for drinking and cooking
- Run water for 15 to 30 seconds before drinking it, especially if you have not used your water for a few hours
- The job: If you work with lead, you could bring it home on your hands or clothes. Shower and change clothes before coming home. Launder your work clothes separately from the rest of your family’s clothes.
- Old painted toys and furniture. Antique or older painted toys and furniture should be avoided as a child might chew on the paint and ingest the dangerous lead.
- Lead crystal or lead-glazed pottery or porcelain: Food and liquids stored in these can become contaminated because lead can leach in from these containers.
- Industry: Lead smelters or other industries that release lead into the air.
- Hobbies: Activities such as making pottery or stained glass or refinishing furniture.
- Folk treatments: Remedies such as “greta” and “azarcon” to treat an upset stomach contain lead.
How do I know if my home contains lead paint?
Homes built prior to 1978 may contain lead-based paint. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 87 percent of homes built before 1940 have some lead-based paint while 24 percent of homes built between 1960 and 1978 have some lead-based paint. So what can you do? You can hire a certified professional to check for lead-based paint in your home. To find a certified inspector, call the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD (5323). You may also test using a lead test kit. Test kits should be recognized by the EPA and are available at hardware stores.
What can I do to protect my family?
If you suspect that your house has lead hazards, you can take some immediate steps to reduce your family’s risk:
- If you rent, notify your landlord of peeling or chipping paint.
- Clean up paint chips immediately.
- Clean floors, window frames, window sills and other surfaces weekly. Use a mop, sponge, or paper towel with warm water and a general all-purpose cleaner or a cleaner made specifically for lead.
- Thoroughly rinse sponges and mop heads after cleaning dirty or dusty areas.
- Wash children’s hands often, especially before they eat and before nap time and bed-time.
- Keep play areas clean. Wash bottles, pacifiers, toys, and stuffed animals regularly.
- Keep children from chewing window sills or other painted surfaces.
- Do not use an antique painted crib or other antique baby furniture that a child might chew on.
- Do not let children play with antique, painted toys.
- Clean or remove shoes before entering your home to avoid tracking in lead from soil.
- Make sure children eat healthy and nutritious meals as recommended by the national dietary guidelines. Children with good diets absorb less lead.
Keep young children or pregnant women out of the home if remodeling is being done that could potentially put dust-containing lead into the air.