“Lead exposure is one of the most common preventable poisonings of childhood,” reports the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the nation’s top professional medical association dedicated to treating children and adolescents affected by this type of injury or harm.
Lead is a poison.
Kids are at high risk of injury or death from lead exposure because they have growing nervous systems which are particularly susceptible to being compromised by any sort of lead exposure. Still, it’s reported that almost every child in this country has been exposed to lead: either from lead paint chips, to lead in the soil, to lead in their drinking water, to lead in their toys.
Lead impacts the child’s brain — even very small amounts of lead exposure can have terrifying consequences: kids can become inattentive; with just a little more lead in their systems, they can develop hearing loss and learning disabilities. Lead poisons the human brain and nervous system.
High lead levels in a child’s body can cause permanent brain injury and sometimes, lead will kill the child.
This is so serious a reality in this country that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) wants every single child to be screened for lead exposure (which can be easily done with a quick blood test). There are medicines that can pull the lead out of the human body; additionally, once the lead exposure has been discovered, steps can be taken to remove the source of the lead from the child’s environment.
This week, in response to this continued problem, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted (3-2) to establish higher lead standards for products designed and sold for children in this country. Read the agency’s full press release here.
The new lead limit is contained within the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), and it goes into effect on August 14, 2011. Within a matter of weeks, manufacturers, distributors, importers and retailers of children’s products must comply with the new lead exposure laws which establish a new 100 ppm federal limit for total lead content. It will be one of the lowest acceptable lead limits in the world.
If your child is 12 years of age or younger, then be on the safe side: have your child tested for lead exposure.
It is a simple blood test, and you are protecting your child against brain injury or worse. If your child has been exposed to dangerous lead levels, then get help in investigating the source of the lead exposure – and if necessary, seek legal remedies to insure that your child is protected from harm as well as other potential victims and that those responsible for the lead exposure injuries are made to take responsibility for the harm they have caused.
