LEAD POISONING: Facts & Guidelines
What is lead poisoning?
Lead poisoning is a disease caused by swallowing lead. It can damage the brain, kidneys, and nervous system of young children. Low levels can cause learning and behavioral problems. Very high levels can cause retardation, convulsions, and coma.
How do children become lead poisoned?
Children are most often poisoned by lead paint in older homes. Lead dust can come from repairing areas with lead paint, opening and closing windows, and through normal wear and tear of painted areas. Lead dust settles to the floor and gets on children's hands and toys. It enters their bodies when they put their hands or toys into their mouths.
Children can also become lead poisoned by eating, chewing, or sucking on things with lead paint such as window sills, railings, or other painted surfaces.
Repairs and renovations of older homes increase the risk of lead poisoning. Children and pregnant women should not be in the home when this work is being done.
What makes some children at higher risk for lead poisoning?
Children are at higher risk if they live in homes built before 1978 that are in poor shape or are being renovated. Children will absorb more lead into their systems if their diets are low in calcium and iron, and high in fat. Also, if parents work with lead, they may bring lead dust home on their clothes or hair.
How will I know if my child has lead poisoning?
Most children do not have any symptoms. Your child can have lead poisoning and not look or act sick. Some children may feel very tired, have no appetite, or have headaches and stomach aches. A blood test is the only way to tell if your child has lead poisoning.
Who should be tested for lead and how often?
Every child in Massachusetts under the age of four must be tested for lead each year. Some children should be tested more often if they are higher risk. Ask your health care provider if your child should be tested more that once a year.
What is a lead test?
A small amount of blood is taken from your child's finger or arm and tested for lead. If the test result is high, another test may be done. Ask your doctor, local lead program, or health center to test your child for lead.
What if my child has lead poisoning?
Your health care provider will talk to you about lead poisoning and test your child again. Your child may be given iron or medicines which remove the lead. An inspector will test your home for lead paint. If lead paint is found, the homeowner must have it removed or covered. Also, a nurse or family counselor may visit you.
Temporary Ways to Reduce the Risk of Lead Poisoning
- Have your child tested for lead.
- Until your home is deleaded, cover chipping and peeling paint on surfaces that children might touch with duct tape or contact paper.
- Wash your child's hands often (always before eating and sleeping).
- Wash your child's toys often.
- Using paper towels, wet wipe household surfaces regularly with TSP, a lead-specific detergent, or any non-abrasive cleaner.
- Feed your child foods high in iron like: lean meat, chicken, dried beans, green leafy vegetables, and cereals with added iron.
- Feed your child foods high in calcium like: milk, cheese, yogurt, and spinach.
- Limit fatty foods like: fried foods, potato chips, donuts, and foods with added fat.
- Keep children from walking around with food. They could put their food down in areas with lead dust.
- Shower and change clothes before going home if you work with lead on the job.
- Run water every morning before serving it to drink, or using it in baby formula.
Permanent Risk Reduction: It's the Law
The Massachusetts Lead Law requires the removal or covering, or interim control, of lead hazards in homes built before 1978 in which a child under the age of six lives. Have your home tested for lead by a licensed lead paint inspector.
Under Massachusetts law, high-risk deleading must be done by a licensed deleader. Some low-risk deleading can be done by the homeowner. Anyone planning to do low-risk deleading must first have an inspection and meet the training requirements. Call (800) 532-9571 to get more information on the training, as well as information on funding available to help pay for deleading.
Home repairs
Simple home repairs like scraping paint before repainting or removing woodwork can make lead dust. This may create a hazard for the whole family. Be careful whenever you work on painted areas. Call (800) 532-9571 for the pamphlet Renovating Your Home Safely.
What if I am a tenant?
If you are not sure if your home has lead paint, ask the owner. If the owner doesn't know, ask him or her about hiring a lead inspector to test the home. You can also call the local board of health or your local lead program to do an inspection. Tenants with children may not be evicted or harassed because of lead paint.
Find the Lead Before They Do
Children can get lead poisoning from sources other than lead paint, but these sources rarely cause lead poisoning by themselves.
Painted Areas
The most common sources of lead poisoning is lead dust and lead chips from lead painted areas.
- Window wells and sills
- Door frames
- Walls and floors
- Woodwork
- Stairs and railings
- Porches
- Old toys, cribs, and furniture
- Radiators and pipes
- Exterior of the house
Water
Food
- Grown in soil with lead
- Stored in lead glazed pottery
Soil
- Near old lead painted buildings (especially if they have been scraped, sandblasted, or have peeling paint)
Airborne Sources
- Dust created during repairs and renovations to older homes
- Fumes from burning lead painted items like painted wood
- Fumes from burning printed items like magazines and wrappers
- Fumes from factories / lead smelters
Other Sources
- Art and craft supplies such as stained glass, solder, paints, and glazes
- Some jewelry, batteries, sinkers / bullets
- Some painted glassware, pottery dishes, and pewter / brass items
- Colored ink on items like magazines
- Some folk medicines and cosmetics from other countries
- Lead dust carried home on the clothes of a person working with lead.
For more information, contact:
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
(617) 753-8400 or (800) 532-9571 (toll free) |