LEAD POISONING INFORMATION
 Lead poisoning is the No. 1 environmental health threat to children in the U.S. Nationwide, one in every 11 children between the ages of 1 and 5 has an elevated level of lead in his or her blood.
Lead poisoning can harm a child's learning ability, as well as a child's ability to speak and to retain information. Children who become lead poisoned can suffer central nervous system damage, loss of intelligence, short attention spans and behavioral disorders. They can also develop anemia and impaired metabolism of Vitamin D.
Children with lead poisoning are reported as having certain behavioral problems such as aggressiveness and destructiveness. Other symptoms of lead poisoning include lack of appetite and sleeplessness.
Children with lead poisoning also often display delays in postnatal development including learning to speak and delays in the age when in which a child sits up. Elevated blood lead levels are also associated with attention deficit disorders, hyperactivity and delayed reaction times.
Lead damage to a child's developing brain could make the difference between a child being at the low end of normal intelligence and dropping below normal, thus requiring special education. Cognitive losses and deficits caused by lead poisoning affect many aspects of a child's learning abilities and are also associated with a decline in academic achievement, often resulting in an inability to complete and graduate from high school.
Lead poisoned children can and often do earn less money and have more job related difficulties and problems than non-lead poisoned children.
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