Lead Poisoning

What is lead?

Lead is a natural metal found in the environment.

What are the effects of lead poisoning?

Lead is toxic and has no known function in the human body. Young children are most susceptible to the toxic effects of lead. Long-term exposure to even low levels of lead can cause irreversible learning difficulties, mental retardation, and delayed neurological and physical development.

In adults, exposure to lead affects primarily the peripheral nervous system and can cause impairment of hearing, vision, and muscle coordination. Lead also damages the blood, kidneys, heart and reproductive system.

Lead poisoning is a particularly insidious public health threat because there may be no unique signs or symptoms. Early symptoms of poisoning may include loss of appetite, fatigue, irritability, anemia, and abdominal pain. Because of the general nature of symptoms at this stage, lead poisoning is often not suspected.

How do you prevent lead exposure in children?

A child is at greatest risk if he or she lives in an older home, built prior to 1950. Homes built before 1950 often contain lead-based paint. Lead may contaminate dust and be ingested when dirty hands or other non-food items come in contact with the mouth. If parents believe a child has been exposed, they should talk to the child’s pediatrician or their health care provider.

Guidelines for protection include:

1. Frequently wash hands, pacifier, toys and other items that may go in the mouth.
2. Feed children nutritious low-fat meals high in calcium and iron.
3. Flush water from tap for two minutes before drinking.
4. Use cold tap water to prepare baby formula.
5. Do not allow children or pets to play in dirt within three feet of the house’s foundation.
6. Wipe dust from horizontal surfaces (counters, tables or floors) with a wet cloth or mop.
7. Use a doormat to wipe feet or remove shoes to keep dust out of the house.
8. Remove imported vinyl mini-blinds from areas frequented by small children.
9. Keep children away from paint chips and lead dust.
10. Learn if your home contains lead-based paint.
11. Contact your local health department for guidelines on remodeling a home with lead-based paint.
12. Avoid candy from Mexico or other countries that contains tamarind and/or chili.
13. Avoid storing or cooking food in traditional, handmade pottery from Mexico.
14. Follow the guidelines listed below to prevent bringing lead home from work.

How do you prevent lead exposure in adults?

Precautions should be taken for work involving shipbuilding; iron processing; painting, resurfacing, and demolition of bridges, towers and other steel structures; battery manufacturing and recycling; radiator manufacturing and repair; scrap metal; firing ranges; fishing weight production; leaded glass manufacturing; lead ore production and smelting.

To reduce exposure to lead, workers should:

1. Wash hands and face before eating, drinking or smoking.
2. Eat, drink and smoke only in areas free of lead dust and fumes.
3. Work with your employer to reduce lead in the workplace. This may include special ventilation equipment or use of a properly fitted respirator.
4. Do not sweep or blow lead-contaminated dust. Wet cleaning and vacuuming are safer.

How do you keep from bringing lead home from work?

1. Use separate work clothes and shoes while at work.
2. Keep street clothes in a clean place.
3. Shower at work before going home.
4. Launder work clothes at work. If you take clothes home, wash and dry them separately.

How is lead used?

Historically, lead was used as a pigment in house paint, an additive to gasoline and as a pesticide. Currently, it is used in lead-acid batteries, fishing weights, marine paint, lead shot, bullets, and in the manufacture of some plastics.

In 1990 the lead-acid battery industry accounted for about 80 percent of the domestic lead production. Ammunition, brass and bronze, extruded products, sheet lead, ballast, containers, ceramics, and gasoline additives represented the remaining 20 percent. Recently, the electronics industry is using more lead in the areas of magnetic imaging, transistors, night vision equipment, and energy generation.

Where is lead found?

Paint: Lead-based paint is the most common source of lead poisoning for children in the nation. Lead was widely used in most interior and exterior oil-based paint prior to 1950. Children are exposed to lead when they eat paint chips or chew painted surfaces. Lead-based paint is most dangerous when it is peeling, chipping, chalking, or cracking, or is located on a surface that is subject to damage from repeated impacts such as door frames. Improper renovation of homes with-lead based paint can generate lead in the air, dust and soil in and around the home.

Soil and dust: Lead-based paint can be a major source of lead-contaminated soil around the home as a result of peeling and chipping paint and remodeling activities, such as sanding and scraping of paint. Industries such as lead ore mining, lead ore milling, smelting, municipal solid waste incinerators, and lead-acid battery recycling facilities can be sources of lead-contaminated soils. Lead-contaminated soil is a potential source of exposure, directly through a child’s hand-to-mouth activity, and indirectly as a contributor to indoor floor dust when tracked into the home.

Air: Sources of airborne lead include emissions from gasoline combustion, smelters, and battery manufacturers, among others. Windblown dust is another source when the dust contains lead. Due to the federal Clean Air Act, there is less lead in motor fuels and tighter emission controls on industrial activities. This has driven air emissions of lead down nearly 90 percent during the last 20 years.

Water: Industrial facilities, urban runoff and atmospheric deposition are sources of lead in the aquatic environment. Lead solder can contaminate drinking water. For more information, call the local health department or EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline 1-800-426-4791.

Are there other sources of lead in the home?

Hobbies:

• Making stained glass windows using lead solder
• Glazing and firing pottery and ceramics
• Making lead weights
• Reloading and making ammunition
• Target practice on indoor and outdoor firing ranges
• Refinishing furniture
• Remolding

Home Remedies:

• Azarcon and greta are bright colored powders containing almost 100 percent lead. They are often used within the Hispanic community and are given to children with intestinal illness or empacho.
• Pay-loo-ah is a red or orange powder used within the Hmong community and given to children as a cure for rash or fever.
• Ghasard, Bala Goli, and Kandu are Asian Indian remedies used for stomachaches.
• Kohl or surma are used by Arab communities for cosmetic and medicinal purposes.

Where is blood lead testing done?

Parents who want their children tested should contact a pediatrician or health care provider.

Where can I get more information?

• All questions regarding lead, call toll free (800) 909-9898.
• Lead Surveillance and Reporting, call Eric Ossiander, Office of Epidemiology, 
  (360) 236-4252.
• Information about lead in the workplace, call Steve Whittaker, Department of Labor and Industries, (360) 902-5663.
• For general information call the National Lead Information Center 1-800-LEAD-FYI
• For information in Spanish, call 1-800-424-5323.

Contact Information for the Department of Health

Last Update : 01/11/2006 08:55 AM
Send inquires about DOH and its programs to the Health Consumer Assistance Office
Comments or questions regarding this web page? Send mail to Eric Ossiander.