Lead exposure level in children set too high

Blood lead levels in children affect their intellectual and emotional development, say researchers from Bristol University.

Findings by researchers in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents Children (ALSPAC) also known as the Children of the 90s project, believe that the current safety threshold for which lead levels give cause for concern is too high.
The current level set by the US Centers for Disease Control in 1991 set it at 10 ug/dl.

The World Health Organisation believe that across the world, half of all pre-schoolers in towns and cities have blood lead levels well above this.

The Bristol researchers found that levels up to 5 did not affect a child’s development, but levels above 5 caused children to have significantly lower scores in SATS and increased risk of antisocial and hyperactive behaviour.

Lead exposure is particularly bad in children when they are very young because toxin can be absorbed into their developing bodies more easily, say the authors in the report published today in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.