Here’s some good news amid the avalanche of bad that’s been hitting the headlines lately: children’s blood lead levels have plummeted over the last several years.
A study co-authored by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that just 1.4 percent of young children had elevated blood lead levels in 2004, which compares with almost 9 percent in 1988. That’s an 84 percent drop since 1988.
The study, released earlier this week in the journal Pediatrics, was based on nearly 5,000 children ages 1 to 5 who were part of a periodic government health survey.
Levels of at least 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood are considered elevated, although lower levels can still cause problems, including attention and reading difficulties.
Lead can affect the nervous system and cause permanent learning, memory and behavior problems. Elevated lead levels disproportionately affect poor kids, because they tend to live in older housing and in industrial areas where lead levels in the soil are greater.
Researchers chalked up the decline to efforts to remove lead from gasoline, house paint, soil, air and other sources.
High exposure to lead in early childhood can actually lead to a pretty significant drop in IQ points as well, which costs a bunch of money down the road in more services like special education, so spending money to help families lessen the effect of lead in their homes make sense. And, it looks like it’s helping.
