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LEAD
- THE #1 ENVIRONMENTAL
HAZARD TO MANY CHILDREN
At
high doses, lead has long been known to cause severe health problems
-- muscle and abdominal pain, brain disease, paralysis and even
death. In recent years, however, we have grown to appreciate the
devastating effects of even low-level lead exposures early in life.
Although
leaded paint and leaded gasoline have been phased out, lead remains
in old paint, household dust, soil, pipe solder (from which it leaches
into water) and some ceramics. Basic research financed by the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has shown the adverse
effects on children's IQ and physical development of lead levels
previously considered safe. Based on these and other findings, public
health officials declared lead the #1 environmental hazard to American
children and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
lowered what is considered to be "acceptable" blood lead
levels.
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To
meet this need, NIEHS is conducting a clinical trial to test
Succimer in children whose blood lead concentrations are within
this lower range. Inner-city hospitals are participating in
this trial in Cincinnati, Ohio, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia,
Pa., and Baltimore, Md. The National Institutes of Health's
Office of Research on Minority Health also is helping to support
this trial. The aim is to see if oral chelation reduces or prevents
lead induced developmental problems. Eight hundred youngsters
are now being followed.
Additionally:
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Preliminary
data from two other NIEHS studies indicate that lead stored
in young women's bones during childhood can be returned to the
blood during times of calcium need, such as pregnancy, and expose
their fetuses.
NIEHS
continues to perform and support research on lead's effects. The
research is important because of the prevalence of lead in the environment
and because lead may represent a model of how other environmental
hazards can hurt the fetus or developing child and adolescent, even
at relatively low levels of exposure.
Reprinted
with Permission from:
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
111 Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
www.niehs.nih.gov
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