Summary
FEATURES
See the full content of this document
Extract
Artificial Christmas trees: how real are the lead exposure risks?
Introduction
Exposure to lead has long been recognized as a major public health issue in the United States and other industrialized nations. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was discovered that lead would cause permanent and irreversible neurological damage, especially in infants and young children, at far lower exposure levels than previously believed (McMichael et al., 1988; Sciarillo, Alexander, & Farrell, 1992). Although recent data show that baseline blood lead levels have been declining over the last two decades (Mattuck, Beck, Bowers, & Cohen, 2001), lead is still a significant threat to health, particularly in children. A recent study involving multivariate analysis of 4,853 study subjects ranging in age from 6 to 16 years found reductions in cognitive performance associated with blood lead levels as low as 2.5 micrograms per deciliter ([micro]g/dL) (Lanphear, Dietrich, Auinger, & Cox, 2001). Thus, lead-containing products with even moderate potential to cause human exposure are becoming recognized as having public health significance. One particular study found that even children whose blood lead levels (BLLs) never exceeded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) level of concern (10 [micro]g/dL) could have decreases in IQ of 2.6 points per 10 [micro]g/dL increase in BLLs...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
