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Tips to Help Parents Keep Children Away From Lead Exposure, Poisoning |
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From Pennsylvania Department of Health: In response to a string of recent recalls of lead-tainted toys worldwide, the Pennsylvania Department of Health today offered parents tips to reduce their child's risk of getting lead poisoning. Lead poisoning affects people of all ages, but it most severely affects young children under the age of six who are still developing physically and mentally. Over time, lead poisoning can impair learning and physical development, cause blindness, affect speech and hearing, weaken muscles, cause high blood pressure and anemia, trigger convulsions, cause mental retardation and lead to paralysis, kidney failure, coma and death. Lead can be stored in a woman's body and, if she becomes pregnant, may be carried to her unborn child, causing miscarriage, premature birth, birth defects or developmental problems. Lead poisoning can be hard to detect since there are usually no symptoms. The primary source of lead exposure is deteriorated or peeling lead-based paint and lead dust in older homes. Lead paint can be found on kitchen and bathroom walls and on wood surfaces, such as doors, windows, stairway banisters, trim moldings and porches. Windowsills can be especially dangerous because young children often put their mouths on them. Children tend to put their hands, or other objects like toys, into their mouths, increasing the risk of lead exposure. Lead hazards in the home can be temporarily reduced by immediately removing recalled toys from the home, repairing damaged paint surfaces and planting grass to cover soil with high lead levels. Parents should contact their family physician or pediatrician with questions about their child's health and possible lead exposure.
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