Emphasizing that there is “no safe level of blood lead concentration for children,” the American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for stricter regulations and expanded federal resources in updated policy statements to protect children from lead exposure.
In particular it is pushing for new federal standards defining and testing for lead hazards in house dust, water and soil. In addition, it urges legal requirements that lead be removed from contaminated housing and child care facilities. Water fountains in schools also should not exceed water lead concentrations of more than 1 part per billion.
The AAP policy statement, released Monday, comes four years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention turned to a focus on prevention of lead exposure, concluding that many children were found with elevated blood lead levels of 5 micrograms per deciliter and above. That group was not previously the focus of intervention measures and housing remediation efforts.
It was in 2012 that the CDC updated its recommendation that all lead exposure should be measured, that the level of 10 micrograms be discarded as a “level of concern.”
Even then, low levels of lead in the blood had been found associated with lower academic achievement in reading and writing and also attention problems, such as impulsivity.
“Most existing lead standards fail to protect children. They provide only an illusion of safety,” Jennifer Lowry, chair of the AAP Council on Environmental Health and an author of the updated policies, said in a statement.
“Instead we need to expand the funding and technical guidance for local and state governments to remove lead hazards from children’s homes, and we need federal standards that will truly protect children.”
The success of reducing lead blood levels in young children is not complete, as more data is collected indicating persistently elevated levels in particular populations of young children in the country.
Karen Hacker, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, has also called for more federal funding to support lead screening and remediation nationally and in Pennsylvania, which has high lead concentrations in many parts due to its heavy industrial roots and older housing stock.
In fact, a report published last week in the Journal of Pediatrics sponsored by Quest Diagnostics found high levels of lead in tests of young children in the Pittsburgh region.
The report evaluated more than 5 million test results from children under 6 years old from across the nation over six years. It found “significant differences” in the high blood lead levels, down to ZIP code regions throughout the country (325 three-digit ZIP code regions with more than 1,000 specimens were analyzed).
Collected from May 2009 to April 2015, the Quest test results included more than 3.8 million venous tests, considered more accurate than the capillary, or “pin prick,” tests.
Company spokesman Alexander Wagner said the two regions of Pittsburgh — with ZIPs that begin with 151 and 152 — ranked as two of the worst 20 regions for both high levels of lead in the blood (defined as between 5 and 10 micrograms) and very high levels of lead (more than 10 micrograms).
In the 151 region, 9.5 percent tested positive for high levels of lead; 2.7 percent tested for very high levels (ranking 20th and 14th, respectively, across the country). In the 152 region (which includes virtually all of Pittsburgh), 10.7 percent of the tests were found to be at a high level, and 2.5 percent tested positive for very high (14th and 20th, respectively).
Although levels did decline over time, elevated blood levels were sorted according to demographic data such as sex, pre-1950s housing construction, poverty income ratios, Medicaid enrollment and geographic regions — using data in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Last week Allegheny County health and housing officials announced a $3.4 million demonstration project, Allegheny Lead Safe Homes, to reduce lead hazards in homes with young children. About 200 properties are expected to have work done, such as window replacement and paint stabilization, using a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Jill Daly: jdaly@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1596.
First Published: June 21, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
