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Lead Paint Poisoning
Lead paint poisoning has been the concern of the public since it was
discovered that high amounts of lead are hazardous to humans. The
lead issue was again revived with the recent recall of thousands of
toys found to have a high enough lead content to be considered
dangerous to babies and children.
Most of the patients tested for lead poisoning are children who
played with Thomas & Friends toys and other toys identified with
lead contamination. These toys were recalled since then by the US
Consumer Product Safety Commission. The public concern brought about
the implementation of free screening of the presence of lead in the
blood by health bureaus of major US cities.
What is scary about lead poisoning is that it has no noticeable
symptoms. The lead content of the body just accumulates over time
until at such a level that its effects become harmful to the body
and become irreversible. It is a good thing that early
identification of the presence of dangerous levels of the lead metal
can reverse the dangerous process of lead accumulation. Children
below six years of age diagnosed with lead poisoning are put into a
special program of detoxification and treatment.
Despite the days of headlines of toys from China contaminated with
high levels of lead, the biggest source of lead poisoning is still
from old and deteriorating paint. The second biggest source is from
adult workers that bring in minute lead dust from jobs.
Because of this, prevention is the best cure for lead poisoning.
Workers with known exposures to the metal must have a regular
check-up as well as be subject to decontamination processes after
work. Consumer products, on the other hand, suspected of having high
levels of lead should be recalled as is being directed by US states.
As mentioned above, lead paint poisoning is by far the biggest
source of risk. It is a good thing that the state government is
implementing countermeasures against unnecessary exposure of the
public to the dangerous metal.
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