by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Parenting

Here?s a reminder about the importance of protecting your children from lead poisoning: a new study shows exposure to lead in childhood affects intelligence and job earnings for decades to come.
Researchers followed into adulthood more than 560 children born in New Zealand in the 1970s, a time when people were regularly exposed to lead in gasoline. Participants completed IQ tests as children and had their blood tested for lead at age 11. Researchers tested the participants? IQ again at age 38.
Those who had high blood levels of lead as children ?more than 10 micrograms per deciliter ? scored on average 4 points lower on the IQ scale at age 38 than kids exposed to lower levels of lead. People in the high lead-exposure group also saw their IQ scores decline from when they were children, the study found. What?s more, participants with high blood levels of lead as kids tended to have poorer paying jobs than other participants, according to the results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Scientists already knew that lead exposure damages the brain, but this study shows the damage may never go away. Today, no amount of lead exposure is considered safe.
Of course, it?s no longer the 1970s, and lead is now banned from gasoline, household paint and water pipes. However, lead paint and pipes can still be found in older buildings, and soil can be contaminated with lead, particularly in industrial areas o...