Children and lead poisoning
Chapter 1 of the book 'Silent Scourge: Children, pollution and why scientists disagree' covers children's lead poisoning

Excerpt from the chapter on Lead, Copyright Oxford University Press, all rights reserved:

"The Social Injustice of Lead Exposure in Children
    The latest national survey of blood lead shows dramatic income and racial/ethnic differences. Figure 1.3 shows the percentages of African American, white, and Mexican American children with different income levels who have blood lead exceeding 10 mg/dl (the current cutoff for “undue lead exposure”). These racial, ethnic, and income differences were also true in an earlier national survey in 1976. This is shocking and a shame to America. The graph shows that children living in poverty have much higher lead exposure than those who are more well-to-do, and that the most likely recipients of high lead exposure are poor African American children (Brody et al., 1994). I want to be perfectly clear that excessive lead exposure does occur in white children from well-to-do families, but it is less likely. And, of course, excessive lead exposure does not occur universally among African American children living on incomes below the poverty level, but it is almost 7 times more likely than for well-to-do white children.
    What are the sources of the racial/ethnic and income disparities in lead exposure? Remember that the Rochester researchers (Lanphear & Roghmann, 1997) found that African Americans in their sample were more likely to have lower incomes and be living in rental housing with lead paint than non-blacks in their sample. Renters with low income have little control over the condition of the paint in their homes. And I will pose another question: Is there still housing discrimination in parts of America such that African Americans do not have as much choice in housing as people from a European heritage? Two other influential factors are poor nutrition and health care.
<2>Lead Paint Abatement Controversy
    Research shows that strict enforcement of regulations for lead paint in housing protects residents from lead exposure. Researchers at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Harvard University studied two adjoining states where the enforcement policies differed. In the area with strict enforcement, when a child was lead poisoned, the authorities automatically did three things: a) notified the state lead poisoning prevention program, b) notified the property owner that there were unsafe levels of lead in the building, that abatement was required or that penalties would be imposed, and c) notified all tenants in the building that a child had been lead poisoned, and informed them of the process for obtaining a lead inspection of their own units. In the area with limited enforcement, the only inspection was of the particular living unit in which the poisoned child lived, no penalties were assessed against property owners, and other tenants were not notified of the presence of lead hazards.
    Over a 5-year period, the researchers studied the lead exposure of children 6 years or younger who were living in the same addresses in which a child had previously been identified as lead poisoned (blood lead greater than 25 mg/dL). The results showed that in the limited enforcement state, addresses with a previously lead poisoned child were 4.6 times more likely to house a child with high lead exposure (> 10 mg/dL) and 6.6 times more likely to have a child with blood lead 25 mg/dL or greater compared to the strict enforcement state (Brown et al., 2001).    
    The authors concluded that, “Public policy is the result of a complex interplay of laws, regulations, and custom. Although policies are implemented across communities, they are designed to influence the lives of individuals. Thus residents are ‘exposed’ to the public policies in force in their communities. For lead poisoning, these policies include abatement of lead ..."

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The book "Silent Scourge: Children, pollution, and why scientists disagree" covers the behavioral and psychological effects of pollutants that we commonly encounter in the environment. The book is written by Colleen Moore (Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and covers these topics.
Chapter 1 covers lead
Chapter 2 covers mercury.
Chapter 3 covers PCBs
Chapter 4 covers certain pesticides
Chapter 5 covers the effects of noise on children's development
Chapter 6 covers community pollution disasters including Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Love Canal
Chapter 7 The Precautionary Principle

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