- Lead poisoning is a big risk for our children
and kind enough to join me this morning here on WAKR
is Dr. Joel Davidson with Akron Children's Hospital
and he heads up their lead poisoning education program.
And Joel,
I guess let's start first of all,
of what happens to our children,
if indeed they get lead poisoning?
- Yeah. Good morning, Ray.
So what happens when kids get exposed to lead
is that lead is a heavy metal.
We don't really need it in our bodies.
And that lead gets absorbed and integrated into the brain
in ways that causes some damage
that leads to some effects down the road.
- And not only brain development, right.
But we could look at other organs,
nervous systems with overexposure.
- Oh, certainly, there's lots of different places
in the body that this heavy metal interacts with
and can lead to some anemia in multiple different ways,
can kind of affect the GI system
and slow things down a little bit,
can compete for the absorption of iron.
But primarily our concern is the neurodevelopment
of young children, kids less than six,
are the kids that we're mostly concerned about
with this toxic metal exposure.
- With us is Dr. Joel Davidson, Akron Children's Hospital.
How long does it take to get lead poisoning
from paint, for example, doctor?
- Well, actually it doesn't take very much lead
to cause the problem that we're talking about this morning.
You only need a few particles
and that's why we focus so much on educating families
about where they can find lead in their environment.
And most of the time it is in the home,
there are a few other sources, bare soil for example,
as kids are getting out on these nice days
playing in bare soil.
But mostly the house is the area
that we are concerned about.
- With us is Dr. Joel Davidson, Akron Children's Hospital.
Joel, I guess the basic thing for many families
that might be moving into new houses or older houses
that you see a lot in the urban areas.
How do you get tested for lead paint inside the home?
Can you educate us there?
- Sure. Yeah.
You mentioned, that transition, that time
that you're looking for a house or that time
that you're moving from one place to another.
We have about 24 million houses throughout the United States
that are at risk for lead exposure.
And in our area, we have a large portion of houses
that are built before 1978,
which is the year that you kind of want to focus on
with public policy and changes that were made
in the contents of building materials.
The houses built after that time are a lot more lead safe
than the houses that are older.
When you look at that new house
or that new place that you're looking to move into,
that's the time to think about lead.
Looking at the age of the windows,
making sure that there's no crack, chipping, peeling paint,
making sure that the downspouts are in good working order
and that there's not any ongoing plumbing issues
that lead to exposure of lead paint
that might be buried within the structure of the house.
So, you're absolutely right,
that that's the time to think about it,
is the time that you're looking for a place
to house your kids or your grandkids.
The most important thing is primary prevention.
But what we look at is kids
that come to our offices for checkups.
There's lots of different ages
that you come for your checkup,
but really at that one and two year mark,
we're really thinking about which kids need testing
and kids that live in zip codes or areas
where there is a large portion of older houses.
Those kids need testing for lead.
And it's a simple blood test to start with
just a screening capillary from your finger test
that can tell us if lead is in the body of the child.
And then if that level is high,
then we start to talk a little bit more
about what else needs to be done.
- As Dr. Davidson mentioned, if you're in a house
that, for example, hasn't been painted
since the mid to early 1970s,
certainly get this investigated.
Let me ask you this,
and we're talking with Dr. Joel Davidson,
Akron Children's Hospital.
Is lead poisoning reversible, can you recover from it?
- So it is not reversible. Once a child's exposed to lead
and once that lead level starts rising
and even when it starts to rise at the lower levels,
it can cause some of those neurocognitive,
learning problems in the elementary, middle school age.
So there are things that we can do in terms of intervention.
Kids that are exposed to lead
are eligible for early intervention services
throughout the preschool and the school aged systems.
And certainly we want to watch closely
the development of all children
during those checkups as well.
Sometimes we don't know that kids have been exposed
to lead in the past, because they got exposed,
their bodies absorbed it and it was high
and then they eliminate it.
And even in that time we may not have tested.
So developmental screening,
an intervention is really important
and can mitigate, can lower the risk,
of some of those effects later on down the road.
But we really want to avoid the exposure before it happens.
You talked about painting and I want to emphasize
that if think your house really is at risk,
you really should get that done by a professional
that understands and is well-trained
in addressing lead specifically.
- No doubt about it, Dr. Joel Davidson with us
Akron Children's Hospital.
Joel, it's interesting,
you mentioned about getting a professional,
one of the questions I had on my list for you,
and I wasn't sure if you could answer it or not
is can I get lead poisoning from doing it myself
inside the house and stripping the paint and such?
- You absolutely can.
And if you live in a house before 1978,
when you start disrupting surfaces, taking down walls,
that is absolutely a risk.
And one of the things that we talk about with families
that we know have lead in the children
that are within the home.
And even sometimes, that's grandparents,
If you have younger kids that are visiting
this applies to you.
You have to get the kids out of the house
when you're doing that work. And I can't emphasize enough
that there is some special training that needs to happen.
So we really discourage people from doing it themselves,
especially when we know that it's lead that's in the house.
- And then my final question Joel,
is we're talking about lead poisoning
and maybe we've talked to some families
who have heard us talk this morning and said,
"Well, maybe that's us."
I emphasize that to act on this quickly.
And Joel, I'll let you expand here
about the exposure time,
where your youngsters, grandkids, children,
the exposure time is critical for these kids.
- Yeah, it absolutely is.
Again, we're talking about the younger age groups
and what we saw in the last 18 to 24 months
is that some people weren't coming in for their checkups,
like they have been in the past.
Throughout the country, we've seen a drop in the number
of lead tests being done.
Luckily, here in Akron, we've been able to keep the kids
coming in for their checkups and making sure
that we're not missing that.
And we haven't seen a drop in our screening rates here,
but it's really important that you get in
for those regular checkups with your doctor,
making sure that you're addressing any concerns.
And if you're thinking about lead this morning,
'cause we're talking about this,
make sure you ask your doctor,
if the child that you care about needs testing
and they can talk to you more about what to do next.
- Yeah, this is a front-burner subject.
Don't put it on the back burner.
Dr. Davidson, thank you so much for the intel this morning.
I think a lot of people hear lead poisoning,
but might not understand the ramifications
and I think you did that very well.
Thanks for the visit with us.
- You're welcome. Thank you. Have a great day.
- You as well, Dr. Joel Davidson with us this morning
from Akron Children's Hospital.
Please take care of this.
If you suspect that your house has paint with lead.