Posted October 28, 2011
Local health officials are urging people this week to check for lead in two places: their homes and their children.
Jenny Kedward, environmental coordinator for the Pueblo City-County Health Department, said that each year public health agencies use the last week in October to spread the word about the dangers of lead poisoning. The health department’s Women, Infants and Children nutrition program is even handing out trick-or-treat bags with reminders to get houses and kids checked.
Lead poisoning can damage nerves and kidneys and causes learning disabilities.
Kedward said that Medicaid requires all children 2 and younger to be checked but she said that doesn’t always happen and parents need to request it. It’s a simple finger-prick blood test, she said, and if levels are high, doctors can prescribe diets rich in calcium and other nutrients that can prevent the absorption of lead.
Unlike some pollutants, she said, “The great thing about lead is you can reduce it.” If children test positive for lead poisoning, she added, local health agencies are notified and can help trace the source.
While lead can be brought home by working parents who are exposed to it in trades like machining, working with batteries or soldering, the most common place it’s found is around homes because it once was a common ingredient in paint.
Lead was banned in paint in 1978 so in towns like Pueblo, with many older homes, fresher paint might chip off so it’s a good idea, she said, to make sure old paint is covered.
It’s most commonly found around creases in woodwork or windowsills but more paint can protect children. “Once you paint over it,” she said, “it’s like asbestos. If you don’t mess with it, it’s OK.”
People also can buy test kits at home improvement stores but she said they’re sometimes reluctant to do that because home sellers must reveal positive lead tests.
She also warned that people need to be careful with food imported from Mexico and China, especially candies, which have been found to contain lead.
More information is available from a lead hotline, 800-424-5323.
©2011 The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.)
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