Half of Americans Live With the Legacy of Childhood Lead Poisoning
Health Day by Denise Mann
National – If you were born before 1996, there’s a good chance you were exposed to high levels of lead as a kid, and new research suggests this may have harmed your IQ and boosted your chances of lead-related health concerns down the road. Fully 170 million, or more than half of all Americans who were alive in 2015, had early-life lead levels above 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (?g/dL), the previous cut-off for concern, Reuben’s team found. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed this cut-off to 3.5 µg/dL, suggesting that even more people may be at risk for health issues due to childhood lead poisoning.