Lead Poisoning: Not Just a Thing of the Past
Mikael Häggström, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
When we think of lead poisoning, it's tempting to assume that the problem is one from a bygone era. But thousands of children in the Midwest are still exposed to dangerous levels of lead every year. In 2012, almost 5,000 children in Missouri alone were found to have dangerous levels of lead in their blood. This shocking statistic comes decades after consumer protections to phase lead out of products like gasoline and paint took effect. And as with most pollutants, lead disproportionately affects poor communities and people of color.
Lead is a neurotoxin, meaning it damages the nervous system—including the brain. Beyond certain levels, lead can even be fatal. Children who come into contact with lead these days, however, are exposed to much subtler levels. This may sound like an improvement, but the major downside is that low-level lead poisoning can go unnoticed and unaddressed for years, if it's ever noticed at all. The toxic effects of lead linger long beyond lead exposure. And the according to the World Health Organization, there is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream. The smallest amount of lead exposure has consequences on childhood development.
How does lead make its way into children's systems? Contrary to common belief, it's not just from children eating lead paint chips. Lead poisoning happens through:
Drinking water that's passed through outdated lead pipes (most famously in Flint)
Paint in older homes
Urban soil
Tracking into the house. Parents who work manufacturing jobs that involve lead can track toxic dust into their own homes, putting their children at risk.
As is abundantly clear from the list above, lead exposure disproportionately affects working class people, who live in older homes, are more likely to work manufacturing jobs, and who often have their basic infrastructure needs ignored. One study found that Black children in St. Louis are twice as likely to suffer from lead poisoning as white children. Sadly, parents can often feel that they themselves are to blame for lead exposure. And while there are concrete steps any parent can take to decrease the risk of lead exposure—adding landscaping to bare soil, dusting surfaces, avoiding plastic and canned foods—city governments and unresponsive landlords are clearly to blame. Fortunately, lead exposure is still on the decline. But like the WHO says, any exposure is too much exposure.