Lead Poisoning Of Our Children Is Underreported In U.S.

We've all heard about the lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan -- which could seriously affect the children of that city. But most people don't realize that Flint is only a small portion of the problem of lead poisoning in the United States. It turns out that millions of children are likely affected -- and most of them go undiagnosed or treated.

The following is a small part of an article by Sarah Frostenson at Vox.com:

We’ve long known that despite all our efforts to clean up lead, we have a serious problem with lead poisoning in American children — it’s an egregious and preventable public health issue that just won’t go away.

And it seems the problem is even worse than we thought. Researchers at the Public Health Institute reported Thursday in the journal Pediatrics that the overall number of children with elevated blood lead levels as of 1999-2010 in the US was 1.2 million, or double what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported. (The number is likely even higher now, since testing rates have only declined since 2000.) These kids who are never tested or reported to the CDC also aren’t receiving treatment.

Some states are doing much worse than others, according to the researchers. In the 11 states in dark blue on the map above, including Arizona and Florida, more than 80 percent of children with lead poisoning were not tested by their pediatricians or local health departments. For the other 28 states with data (in medium and light blue), anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of lead-poisoned children weren’t tested.

As for the 12 states in gray, researchers were unable to determine how many cases of lead poisoning were missed, because these states don’t share any data with the CDC. 

So how are we failing to account for so many lead-poisoned children?

The answer (as well as the solution) is pretty straightforward. We don’t test enough children for lead, and as a result, lead poisoning cases in the US go undetected. If doctors were to test more children and if states were to mandate testing for more at-risk populations, then more children suffering from lead poisoning would get the treatment they so desperately need. It might also mean we’d get more serious about dealing with the threat of lead itself.

In 1984, 17 percent of all American preschool children had blood lead levels that exceeded 15 micrograms per deciliter, or μg/dL. But thanks to the ban of leaded paint in 1978 and the gradual phaseout of leaded gasoline in the mid-1970s, BLLs in preschool children have continued to decline overall, so that in 2014 just 0.53 percent of children tested in the US had elevated BLLs of 10 μg/dL or greater — once a threshold for the harmful effects of lead.

What researchers have learned in recent years is that no level of lead is safe for children. Studies have even shown lead concentration in the blood as low as 2 micrograms per deciliter of blood (μg/dL) can lower IQ in children. And once children have blood lead levels of 5 μg/dL and above (what’s now considered lead poisoning), they can suffer severe neurological damage in the form of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders.

In 2014, the CDC found that 4.2 percent of children test, or half a million, had elevated blood lead levels of 5 (μg/dL) or greater. But Eric Roberts, the lead author of the new paper in Pediatrics, and colleagues suspected this number was incomplete.

“People talk about the great public health victory over lead, which is true, but I think it kind of blinded us,” he said.

To calculate how many lead poisoning cases in the US might be unreported, Roberts and his colleagues used the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They also used census data on housing, race, poverty, and region of residence (all known risk factors of lead exposure) to determine rates of lead poisoning. The researchers then compared their numbers with the CDC’s reported confirmed lead poisoning cases and found that nearly 600,00 children suffering from lead poisoning (blood lead levels 10 μg/dL or greater) were not counted. And this is a conservative estimate because the CDC’s threshold for lead poisoning is now 5 μg/dL.

The Effects Of Lead Poisoning On Its Victims

(This caricature of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is by DonkeyHotey.)

By now you've probably heard about the water disaster in Flint, Michigan. After the state took over the financially-strapped city, Governor Rick Snyder mandated cutting costs -- and one of the cost-cutting matters his administration undertook was to change the source of Flint's water supply (from safe Lake Huron drinking water purchased from Detroit to using water from the Flint River).

The state knew (or at least should have known) that the Flint River water was contaminated by industrial dumping. That didn't seem to matter to Snyder and his cohorts -- who considered saving money more important than making sure Flint residents had safe water. And it turned out that water was not safe. One of the Flint River contaminants affected the city's water pipes -- causing those pipes to leach lead into the drinking water. Depending on the area of the city, the lead contamination varied from 5 times the safe level of lead to hundreds of times the safe level.

The fact is that the GOP cost-cutting without thinking of the consequences has poisoned the residents of Flint -- and sadly,  there is no medical cure for lead poisoning. This poisoning will have both immediate and long-term effects for Flint's residents. What are those effects? Here is how Think Progress describes them:

Here are some of the other long-lasting effects that lead exposure may have on Flint residents:

Harm to Children’s Development

Four percent of the children in Flint have greater than five micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (ug/dL) in their bloodstreams, which is considered unsafe under current guidelines. 

Infants and children exposed to lead may suffer in various ways, including delayed puberty, speech impairment, high blood pressure, hearing loss, decreased muscle and bone growth, kidney damage, and a weakened immune system. Breastfed infants are also at risk if there is lead in their mother’s bloodstreams. 

Equally important, lead also affects children’s brains and nervous systems. Those exposed to lead at a young age may suffer from a coma, convulsions, or even death. Children who survive serious lead poisoning may be left with mental retardation and changes in behavior, like a shortened attention span or increased antisocial behavior.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), lead exposure contributes to about 600,000 new cases of children with intellectual disabilities every year. A recent study of children aged six to 17 also found that lead exposure increases symptoms in some people with ADHD. Even low exposure to lead as a child could cause lower IQ well into adulthood — and this may be irreversible. One study of the relationship between children’s blood lead concentration and their test performance found that for every 1 ug/dL increase in blood lead concentration, there was a 0.7 point decrease in mean arithmetic scores, an approximately one point decrease in mean reading scores, a 0.5 point decrease in mean nonverbal reasoning scores, and a 0.5 point decrease in mean short-term scores.

Reproductive Problems

For women, greater lead exposure may lead to a higher likelihood of miscarriage and stillbirth. The body stores lead in the teeth and bones over time, and when a woman is pregnant, that lead may be released into her bloodstream, putting fetuses at risk. Washington, D.C. had a similar water crisis from 2000 to 2004, and stillbirths in the city peaked in 2001, when lead levels in the water were at their highest. 

Men exposed to lead, meanwhile, may have lower sperm counts, increased abnormal sperm, and erectile dysfunction.

Greater Risk Of Developing Cancer

While the link between lead exposure and cancer still needs to be further analyzed, there have been some studies showing a correlation between the two. In particular, those exposed to lead may be at higher risk for lung and stomach cancers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have all determined that lead probably causes cancer.

Digestive & Cardiovascular Issues

Lead exposure can have a variety of short-term digestive effects, like loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, and stomach cramps. Adults and children exposed to lead may also be at risk of more serious long-term problems, like high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Compromised Nervous Systems

Exposure to lead can affect the nervous system of both adults and children, interrupting how the brain interacts with the rest of the body. Those affected may suffer from muscle weakness, loss of sensation, lack of coordination, and pain, tingling and numbness in the limbs. Lead exposure may also reduce nervous system performance, and it may cause weakness in fingers, wrists, and ankles.

Kidney Damage

Lead exposure can cause long-term kidney damage in both adults and children. Inflammation of the kidneys and abnormal kidney function have occurred after short-term exposure in adults with blood lead levels of 40 ug/dL or more. Adults and children with blood lead levels of 60 ug/dL may also suffer from long-term kidney damage severe enough to cause death.

Bush Still Protecting Polluters

Even though he has less than 100 days in office left, George Bush is still acting to protect polluters -- even though they are poisoning little children. I guess if you sold out to the corporations years ago, and you're already the most unpopular president ever, why should you change? After all, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Recent scientific studies have shown that lead is dangerous at much lower levels than previously thought. This is especially true for children, where lead can cause internal injuries and IQ loss. Because of this, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided to make the monitoring of lead levels from businesses more strenuous.

The EPA wanted to monitor any business thought to produce at least a half-ton of lead pollution each year. That would have required up to 600 monitors near places like lead smelters, cement plants and steel mills. But the Bush administration wouldn't hear of it.

After a few e-mails passed between the EPA and the White House, the EPA has suddenly adjusted its new standards. Now a monitor will be required only for plants that produce over a ton of lead each year. That cuts out 60% of the businesses that would be monitored. It would require only 135 monitors (and 133 exist already). Basically, Bush has gutted the new monitoring standards so that no businesses will be monitored that aren't already being monitored.

The EPA will put a new monitor in each city of over 500,000, but that is just window dressing. A monitor that is not placed near the source of the lead is of no actual value.

Once again the Bush administration has acted to protect polluters at the expense of the health of American citizens and their children. They should be ashamed of themselves.