Amid the brutal cuts across the federal government under the Trump administration, perhaps one of the most gutting is the loss of experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who respond to lead poisoning in children.
The federal government's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program is not operating, despite HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claims that it's being funded.
-- NBC News (@nbcnews.com) May 22, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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#5: CDC or not... how the hell is lead still a problem?
Incredible that lead is still a problem in 21st-century America: drudge.com
CDC or not... how the hell is lead still a problem?
#5 | Posted by kwrx25
You know all this lead got put into the environment by humans burning leaded gasoline, right?
Microscopic lead dust came out of every car's tailpipe for half a century.
And you really think it all just "went away?" I like to think you're smarter than this.
Was there ever any effort to clean up lead? No, all we did is stop using it.
We never cleaned it up. And it's everywhere.
Scroll down to Fig 1 on the paper below. By the time we realized the lead in gasoline was making its way into people, we had been putting lead in gasoline for fifty years. It's not surprising to me that it would take about as long to taper off as it did to build up.
Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood
March 7, 2022
www.pnas.org
#7: Hi Snoofy: And then as adults, police officers and soldiers are exposed to lead particulates all the way from shooting ranges, training exercises, shooting suspects, and the "Forever Wars": www.npr.org
Remember Flint, Michigan a few years ago?
Here's a refresher ...
Flint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know
www.nrdc.org
... After officials repeatedly dismissed claims that Flint's water was making people sick, residents took action. Here's how the lead contamination crisis unfolded ...
Lead levels in Flint water
Soon after the city began supplying residents with Flint River water in April 2014, residents started complaining that the water from their taps looked, smelled, and tasted foul. Despite protests by residents lugging jugs of discolored water, officials maintained that the water was safe.
A study conducted the following year by researchers at Virginia Tech revealed the problem: Water samples collected from 252 homes through a resident-organized effort indicated citywide lead levels had spiked, with nearly 17 percent of samples registering above the federal action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb), the level at which corrective action must be taken. More than 40 percent measured above 5 ppb of lead, which the researchers considered an indication of a "very serious" problem.
Even more alarming were findings reported in September 2015 by Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha: The incidence of elevated blood-lead levels in children citywide had nearly doubled since 2014"and nearly tripled in certain neighborhoods.
As Hanna-Attisha noted, "Lead is one of the most damning things you can do to a child in their entire life-course trajectory." In Flint, nearly 9,000 children were supplied lead-contaminated water for 18 months. ...
How does lead affect the human body?
Lead poisoning
www.mayoclinic.org
... Overview
Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body, often over months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal.
...
Lead poisoning symptoms in children
Signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in children include:
- - - Developmental delay
- - - Learning difficulties
...
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