- Introduction
- Task
- Process
- Credits
Introduction
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 900,000 children in the United States currently have elevated blood lead levels. Nancy Pavur became well aware of this fact after two weeks into a home renovation when her dog, Hero, died from lead poisoning. Three years latter her daughter Elizabeth began to experience memory loss, one of the effects of lead poisoning. Her other two children are now showing other detrimental effects caused by lead poisoning. The lead present in her home in the form of paint and lead pipes was released into the air and water and subsequently taken in by the family.
In most cases, it is the younger children living in the inner city in homes built before 1978 who are affected by lead poisoning. Toddlers constantly test their environment through their senses, including taste, and tend to ingest the lead in the form of lead paint chips or dust on objects in the home or in the soil around the home. Current studies have discovered that trace amounts of lead, one microgram per deciliter of blood, can result in a three quarters of a point drop in IQ. Damage to the brain and nervous system may result in the form of behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems and headaches. While small amounts of lead can cause brain damage, discovering even high blood lead levels is difficult because traditional lead tests are expensive and inexact, oftentimes giving false-negative or false-positive results. To make matters worse, symptoms associated with lead poisoning are not immediately visible. Apparently healthy children may have very high levels of lead that acts as a neurotoxin in their blood streams. Thus, there is a clear need for easier, less expensive and more exact methods of testing for lead.