New research reveals a deadly threat to U.S. children
It’s easy to assume that lead toxicity no longer poses a significant threat to national health. The past several decades have seen bans on lead in both paint and gasoline in the United States, two major sources of exposure in the past. Nevertheless, an ever-increasing number of studies suggest that the consequences of lead poisoning are far from over… and sadly, as one recent analysis has revealed, the risk is especially high where our children are concerned.
As part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers tested the lead levels of 768 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20. Results indicated that the teens’ mean levels came in at 1.5 micrograms per deciliter—a measurement which, while detectable, still sits well below the CDC’s safe limit of 10 micrograms per deciliter. Even so, further analysis revealed that those young subjects whose levels fell in the highest quartile—in this case, any number above a supposedly “safe” level of 2.9 micrograms per deciliter—also showed evidence of slowing kidney function that was unable to be accounted for as the result of any other outside conditions.
While this impairment was only slight, the study’s authors were quick to point out its dangerous implication: that even more serious kidney damage could be in store as these otherwise healthy children reach adulthood—especially if additional factors such as high blood pressure or diabetes come into play. The outcome could mean an escalating epidemic of chronic kidney disease… and one with a largely preventable cause.
These results, while unsettling, are hardly surprising to me. Outside of occupational hazards, the majority of lead poisoning occurs in children under age twelve. One of the main sources of poisoning is the ingestion of lead dust or chips from deteriorating lead-based paints. This is a particularly common problem in older houses where the sweet-tasting lead paint is likely to chip, but deteriorating lead-based paint can also powder and be inhaled. Another common risk is living in proximity to industrial areas or other sources of toxic chemicals such as commercial agricultural land. All children born in the U.S. today have measurable traces of pesticides, a source of heavy metals and chlorine-based chemicals, in their tissues.
Even as recently as 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that more than one million elementary schools, high schools, and colleges were still using lead-lined water storage tanks or lead-containing components in their drinking fountains. The EPA estimates that drinking water accounts for approximately 20 percent of young children’s lead exposure.
In a young child, virtually no organ system is immune to the effects of lead poisoning—and until now, the organ of greatest concern has remained the developing brain. Recent literature suggests that significant insult to the brain occurs even at very low levels of lead. As the brain is still developing after the birth of the child, any such toxic substance can have an impact on normal development, which is characterized by long-lasting effects.
Lead’s effects on the brain appear to continue into the teenaged years and beyond. Since lead is a known neurotoxin, excessive blood lead levels in children have been linked to learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies indicate that low level lead poisoning causes mild mental retardation and low IQ scores in children. High lead levels have also been linked to reduced intelligence and school achievement scores, permanent learning disabilities, seizures, coma, and even death.
Given these risks, there’s little question that the need for increased vigilance and the development and use of safe and effective methods of treatment is a high priority. As my own contribution to this cause, I would like to offer the results of a small but remarkably promising clinical trial examining the benefits of modified citrus pectin (MCP) in cases of childhood lead poisoning.
In collaboration with the USDA, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China examined a group of seven patients between the ages of five and twelve, each with a blood lead concentration over 20 micrograms per deciliter—more than double the threshold for lead poisoning in children (Altern Ther Health Med. 2008;14(4):34-8). Patients received 15 grams of MCP per day, in three 5-gram doses, for a total of 28 days. Blood serum and urine excretion collections were taken on day 0, day 14, day 21, and day 28.
The response in these seven children was dramatic. Two patients were released at two weeks, three at three weeks, and the remainder at the conclusion of the four-week study—all with blood lead levels that had dropped below the criteria of 20 micrograms per deciliter. Overall, blood serum lead levels decreased by a remarkable 161 percent—and 24 hour urinary excretions of lead increased by an equally impressive 132 percent in all seven patients. More importantly, there were absolutely no adverse effects reported during the duration of the four-week study.
As the threat of lead poisoning and other forms of heavy metal toxicity continues to come to light, it is my hope that more attention will be paid to the vital importance of safe and swift action. Our children’s future, very literally, depends upon it.
Sources:
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (2010, January 12). Small amounts of lead may damage children’s kidneys. ScienceDaily.
Zhao ZY, Liang L, Fan X, Yu Z, Hotchkiss AT, Wilk BJ, Eliaz I. The role of modified citrus pectin as an effective chelator of lead in children hospitalized with toxic lead levels. Altern Ther Health Med. 2008 Jul-Aug;14(4):34-8.
