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Lead Poisoning Risk Factors
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Lead poisoning is an important cause of learning disabilities, anemia, growth problems and children exposed to lead may have problems with paying attention and being aggressive. Children are most commonly exposed to lead by the ingestion of paint chips or dirt that is contaminated with lead. Prior to 1977, lead was an ingredient of paint, so children living in older homes with chipping paint are most at risk for lead poisoning.
Take our Lead Poisoning Screening Quiz to see if your child is at risk of lead poisoning, or review the risk factors below.
Children need to be screened for lead poisoning if they have any of the following three risk factors (or if you don't know if your child has these risk factors):
- Lives in or often visits a house that was built before 1950.
- Lives in or often visits a house that was built before 1978 and is being remodeled.
- Has playmates or friends that have high lead levels.
- Lives in a zip code where more than 27% of the housing was built before 1950 (check with your local health department to see if you live in a high risk area or enter your zip code on this CDC webpage).
- Is a member of a high risk group, including living in poverty, receiving aid from Medicaid and/or WIC.
Your child may also need to be screened for lead poisoning if he has any of the following risk factors that place him at risk for being exposed to lead.
- Eats or chews on nonfood things, such as paint chips or dirt.
- Has family members that work at a place or has a hobby that involves any of the following:
- radiator repair
- lead industry
- welding
- battery manufacture or repair
- house construction or repair
- smelting
- chemical preparation
- making pottery
- going to a firing range
- stained glass with lead solder
- brass or copper foundry
- valve and pipe fittings
- bridge, tunnel and elevated highway construction
- industrial machinery or equipment
- casting ammunition, fishing weights or toy soldiers
- refinishing furniture
- burning lead painted wood
- automotive repair shop
- Lives or plays near an area with any of the following:
- smelter
- hazardous waste site
- lead industry
- place where batteries are manufactured or repaired
- house construction site
- heavily traveled major highway
- place where cars are abandoned or repaired
- Consumes any of the following products:
- medicines (especially home remedies) and other products imported from another country, including:
- paylooah (pay-loo-ah), a fever and rash treatment in Southeast Asia.
- azarcon (a Mexican treatment for intestinal blockage or 'empacho' that is 90% lead. Also called Maria Luisa, Liga, Alarzon, Greta, Coral and Rueda. It is a bright orange powder).
- Asian folk remedies, including Ghasard (a brown powder used to aid digestion), Bali Goli (a round, flat black bean that is dissolved in water) and Kandu (a red powder used to treat stomachaches).
- Middle Eastern folk remedies, including farouk (teething) and bint al zahab (colic).
- Lozeena, an orange colored food coloring used in Iraq
- nutritional pills other than vitamins, including calcium supplements from bonemeal and dolomite.
- cosmetics like surma or kohl, which is available as a powder, gel or liquid, and is often applied to the eyelids in many Asian countries for medicinal or cosmetic reasons.
- Lives in a home in which the plumbing has lead pipes, lead solder or lead containing holding tanks.
- Eats foods that are cooked or stored in imported or glazed pottery.
- Eats foods that are canned outside the United States.
- Frequently chews on keys (which often contain small amounts of lead).
- Other lesser known sources of lead are:
- curtain weights
- some candles made outside of the United States
- pewter figurines
- lead sinkers used for fishing
- lead soldiers and other collectible figurines
- imported bead necklaces and costume jewelry, especially those with metallic cubes.
- Immigrants and refugee children from developing countries, including Vietnam and Somalia, may be at increased risk for lead poisoning as reported in the article 'Lead Poisoning Among Refugee Children Resettled in Massachusetts, 1995-1999' from the July 2001 Pediatrics journal.
You should see your doctor for a blood test to screen for lead poisoning if your children are at risk.
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