National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week

“Lead poisoning is an important cause of learning disabilities,
anemia, as well as growth problems, and children exposed to lead may
have attention and aggression problems,” said Dr. Richard Geller,
Executive Medical Director for the CPCS. He added that children are
most commonly exposed to lead by ingesting paint chips or dirt that is
contaminated with lead, especially if one or both parents have
occupational exposure to lead.

Dr. Geller said ways to prevent lead poisoning in children include
having them wash their hands frequently, washing their toys often and
providing a diet high in iron and calcium. Children who are
undernourished can absorb more lead into their bodies than children
with well balanced diets. Consumer lead testing kits can be found at
most hardware stores and may be of use in detecting lead in the home.
For more free poison and safety tips, text the word TIPS or PUNTOS for
Spanish to 69866.

Dr. Geller offered the following 10 lead poisoning prevention:

1. Make sure your children do not chew on painted surfaces,
such as toys or window sills.

2. Report chipped or cracked paint to your landlord if you
live in an older home built before 1978.

3. Cover paint that is peeling or chipping with duct tape
until it can be removed.

4. Ask your doctor to test your young children for lead
even if they seem healthy.

5. Children's necklaces and bracelets, adult watches, as
well as religious jewelry from Mexico, have been found to contain
lead.

6. Keys frequently have small amounts of lead in them – do
not let babies play with or teethe on your keychain.

7. Run the faucet for a few minutes before using cold water
for cooking, drinking or preparing infant formula (this can help flush
out the lead which can build up in sitting water), especially if the
cold water hasn't been used in the past two hours.

8. Avoid eating foods that are canned outside the United States.

9. Traces of lead have been found in some candy and its
packaging imported from Mexico containing chili or tamarind.

10. Folk medicines (especially home remedies) imported from
another country also contain lead. These include: pay-loo-ah (fever
and rash treatment); azarcon (also called Maria Luisa, Liga, Alarzon,
Greta, Coral and Rueda); Asian folk remedies, including Ghasard, Bali
Goli and Kandu; and Middle Eastern folk remedies, including farouk and
bint al zahab.





Disclosure: Thank you Dan Grody for providing this info!