Maternal/Child Health

Lead Poisoning

Lead Poisoning is the NUMBER ONE environmental disease for children.  1 out of 5 children in Hardin County have been diagnosed as LEAD POISONED.  Scientific studies have shown a clear link between lead poisoning and aggressive or violent behavior in teenagers.  Children who are lead poisoned often find it difficult to learn and are 7 times more likely to drop out of school.  Symptoms are often mistaken for a cold or the flu.  Houses built before 1950 are the most likely to contain lead based paint.  However lead was an ingredient in paint and used until 1978.  56% of Hardin County homes were built before 1950, 80% of homes contain lead paint.  Lead enters the body through oral ingestion of inhalation of dust.  Lead can be stored in soft tissues such as the liver, kidney, brain, bones, and teeth for 20-40 years.  Lead poisoning causes damage to the brain and nervous systems in children even in small doses.  Damaged caused by lead poisoning is irreversible and permanent.  Lead affects every major body system and can be released from the bones during times of high stress.  The only cure is PREVENTION.  The only way to know the amount of lead your child has been exposed to is to have them tested for lead.

SYMPTOMS

SOURCES - 1 square inch of lead based paint contains enough lead to poison 500 children.