Lead exposure during childhood can have serious repercussions later in life, according to a new study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

A high blood lead level during childhood can be linked with a lower IQ in adult life, researchers claim.

 

Researchers measured the blood lead levels of 565 participants in New Zealand who were part of a study of people born between 1972 and 1973.

 

Each person had their blood lead levels measured at 11 years old, and the researchers followed up with blood tests about decades later, when they were 38.

 

 

They found that childhood lead exposure was associated with long-term cognitive and occupational ramifications.

 

The researchers discovered that children with high blood lead levels at age 11 reached lower levels of socioeconomic status and had lower IQ levels, compared to their peers with low blood lead levels in childhood.

 

 They believe that the lower IQ levels are a contributing factor to having a lower level of socioeconomic status.

 

Lead is toxic and can cause neurological damage and developmental delays, particularly in children.

 

There is no such thing as a “safe blood lead level”, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but experts use the reference level of five micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood or five µg/dL as a way to identify kids with blood lead levels that are higher than average.

 

 

The CDC warn that “Even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement."

 

"Effects of lead exposure cannot be corrected".

 

 “Once the lead is in the child's body, it reaches the brain through the not fully developed blood brain barrier.”

 

Children, babies and pregnant women are especially sensitive to lead exposure.

 

Exposure to lead in water is said to be particularly harmful for bottle-fed infants, as all of their food during their early months comes from water-mixed formula.

 

 

The World Health Organisation say: “A child can drink a glass of water containing lead and absorb 50% of it.

 

"An adult might only retain 10% of the lead in that water.”

 

 Lead can dissolve into water when drinking water comes in to contact with lead pipes especially when it is left standing in a pipe for a period of time.

 

Blood lead levels are highest in countries where lead is added to petrol or gasoline, where lead is used in paint soldered products, in urban areas, in areas adjacent to high road traffic, and in developing countries.

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