Lead Exposure: When it hits home
Mamas, as we are vigilant about lead testing and recalls, lead exposure can still hit home. An urbanMama recently emailed, seeking your tips and advice as it relates to elevated lead levels:
My daughter just had her lead level tested at her 9month check up and it came back at a 9.3. I am kinda freaked out right now as I have done everything I can to provide my child with what I thought was a non-toxic environment. I live in an older home and am afraid the water and/or possible lead paint may be the culprit. Has anyone else dealt with high lead levels in their infant and the possibility that it is in fact due to the home environment? I am very careful about the toys she plays with and the containers her food and water are in. Does anyone have suggestions for lowering her lead levels? Can anyone recommend a home inspection company/individual to test lead levels in my home? I live in Columbia County about 25 min. from NW Portland.
There are some places in the phone book where you can take a sample or samples and bring it to them to test. They can give you the details of how and where to sample. I can't remember the name of the place we used right now. We'd replaced our pipes when we bought our house, so we knew that the slightly elevated lead level in our daughter's blood must have been from the old paint in the house.
For water, make sure to run the cold water for at least a minute in the morning before using it for drinking/food to flush the lead out that accumulates in the pipes overnight while the water is just sitting.
Here is the Portland Water Bureau Lead Info age:
http://www.portlandonline.com/water/index.cfm?&c=29587
This group is one I've seen at a lot of public events, and would be helpful with information, though may be limited to Portland residents:
http://www.communityenergyproject.org/lpp_about.html
Hope you are able to find the source and a good solution soon. I know how troubling this can be.
Posted by: Liz | April 28, 2009 at 09:43 PM
You might check out local activist mom Tamara Rubin's web site since her kids got lead poisoning from a contractor using unsafe paint removal practices. She's at www.mychildrenhaveleadpoisoning.com. Good luck.
Posted by: LTF | April 28, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Just wondering if your child actually had an extensive blood test done for lead levels or just a screener? During well check visits, Doctors routinely offer a simple lead screening test that is notoriously unreliable and results in many false positives. My child's lead levels came in at 16.3 on this screener but the actual follow-up blood test found microscopic lead levels in her body. Just thought I'd mention it.
Posted by: Anonmom | April 28, 2009 at 11:31 PM
Lead is a frightening substance. But try not to panic. Get help and advice quickly. Start with the county lead line:
http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/health/lead/leadline.html
Here's more on the topic of lead:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/themombeat/2008/07/the_letter_could_not_be.html
Good luck.
Posted by: Noelle | April 29, 2009 at 04:50 AM
I remember reading somewhere that if you have an older tub, the lead from the porcelain glaze leeches into the bath water. Apparently, it's one of the most overlooked sources of lead poisoning in children. I'm sure you'll get to the root of the problem and please post an update when you do! Best of luck.
Posted by: VJ | April 29, 2009 at 08:31 AM
We have friends who battled elevated lead levels with their daughter for a long time. They lived in an old farmhouse and were renovating while she was a baby, so as she crawled around the house and put everything in her mouth, she ingested lead from the dust. Her levels were alarmingly high, and it took them a long time to get them down. I do remember that they did some things with her diet, I want to say that they gave her iron supplements and possibly a B vitamin as well. Ask your doctor if this is something that might help, in addition to the other recommended things.
Posted by: Leah | April 29, 2009 at 08:40 AM
I manage the City of Portland Lead Hazard Control Grant funds and have a couple thoughts. The most common source of lead poisoning in Oregon is lead dust that comes from lead paint in older homes. The lead dust is created when surfaces with lead paint rub against each other, such as doors, double hung windows, closets, built in cabinets, etc.
Anonmom is right in that only the blood lead tests that are draw from a child's vein and tested in a lab should be used for true diagnostic purposes. The capillary, instant results are a good screening method but they need to be verified. If your child has a 9.3 at 9 months, you need to contact the Columbia County Health Department. In my 10 year experience working with blood lead poisoning and lead hazard control, I have observed that many family doctors are not adequately trained to deal with an EBL situation and what to do to bring down the blood lead level.
If you are income eligible (under $50,000 for a family of 3, under $56,000 for a family of 4), the Portland Lead Hazard Control Grant Program will test your home for free (even in Columbia County)and provide a grant up to $10,000 to address the identified hazards.
http://www.pdc.us/housing_services/programs/lead_hazard_control/default.asp
If you are not income eligible to work with them, getting your house is pretty important. Please know that anyone you get to test your home MUST be certified by the State of Oregon as a licensed risk assessor. I personally would recommend Ron Swisher of Lead Solutions at (503)708-0338.
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/leadpaint/docs/firmlist.pdf
Aside from removing and replacing parts of your home that have lead hazards, there are things that you can do to minimize the amount of lead and lead dust your child is exposed to. The Community Energy Program has a great Lead Poisoning Prevention class that teaches parents how to reduce their kids exposure to lead hazards in the home withouth doing extensive remodeling, including what types of detary changes can help little bodies absorb less lead.
http://www.communityenergyproject.org/Lead_Brochure.pdf
Sorry for such a long response, but I hope some of this helps. Good Luck!!
Posted by: Andrea M. | April 29, 2009 at 09:21 AM
Our son's lead level was slightly elevated (4 ug/dL) at his 1 year check up. We got lots of good information as well as test kits (swabs and dust kits) from the community energy project, mentioned in the first post. We tested everything we could think, initially finding nothing. Then their suggestions led us to test the vinyl blinds. Turns out that these often have lead in them, and as they age especially in sunlight, they deteriorate and create lead-laden dust. Sure enough, the blinds on a south facing window, blinds that were already in the house when I bought it years ago, tested extremely positive. Needless to say, we got rid of all the blinds.
In addition to finding the point source, we made an extra effort to make sure that our son's diet was rich in iron, calcium, and vitamin C (within reason - you don't want to trade lead for iron poisoning!). All can help lower existing lead levels, and you can find good, reliable information including results of studies on the cdc's website. We just fed him the fortified baby cereal in the mornings and tried to include eggs, dark leafy greens, and so on into other meals. On days that he didn't eat those, I would give him a little baby vitamin/mineral supplement.
We had him retested after 2 months and again 2 months after that. Both tests came back lower than before though not yet zero (between 2 and 3.) The first and last test were of blood drawn from the vein - a more accurate measure - while the middle one was a finger prick test. These are less reliable, as they tend to overstate rather than understate the level, but for us that was fine - since even that test read lower than before, it was very reassuring. We thought that the finger prick would be less traumatic for the baby, but as it turns out it was actually worse because they had to squeeze and massage the finger and it took much longer.
Posted by: Tamar | April 29, 2009 at 09:31 AM
New Lead in Paint Guidelines Released by CPSC: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/5830#more-5830
Posted by: Cynthia | April 29, 2009 at 12:29 PM
We just had our 1 year old tested too, and his level came in at a 5. Our pediatrician said anything under a 10 is normal- although typically most kids come in at around a 2 or 3. He also said that the lead levels that are really concerning (that can cause brain damage, etc.) are 70-90 level. So thankfully, you are very far off from that.
Our son has low iron, so we are feeding him lots of meat and a little bit of an iron supplement for infants. Often kids who are low in iron have higher lead levels in their blood. We got a home test kit from our doctor, but I know they offer the kits for free around town (They had them at Milagro's in NE- not sure if they still do). You can also get them from the Community Energy Project- which a lot of people mentioned already.
We are having our soil tested through Growing Gardens this week- if you spend a lot of time in your yard you might want to get this done too. We also got our water tested through the Portland Water Bureau. We are renting a home built in the early 1900's but our water ended up having no lead.
Here is a link to Leadline, which is a Multnomah County group who have a lot of info and a number you can call with questions:
http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/health/lead/leadline.html
And here is the resource page from the Josiah Hill Clinic (they do free testing for kids and breastfeeding moms and can test some toys and pottery too). You should also check out their FAQs page:
http://www.jhillclinic.org/resources.html
Oh and I just re-read and saw you live in Columbia county. I think these links and groups should work for you and if not, they can probably refer you to groups in your area.
Posted by: Michelle | April 29, 2009 at 02:49 PM
I want to give a tremendous shout-out to the PDC's lead abatement grant program, referenced above. About 5 years ago we qualified for the program. They had lead experts come to our house and test extensively. There was lead (some in places we never suspected, like the treads of the basement stairs).
The PDC grant paid for all the abatement work and for replacing every moving window in the house. We would never, ever have been able to afford this. PDC pays for high quality vinyl windows. Because we wanted to keep our house's character intact, we kicked in the extra money to upgrade to wooden windows - basically we paid the cost of about 3 wooden windows to have the whole house redone.
Before we learned about the PDC grant program we had looked into getting our house tested. Yellow pages estimates were around $800. This program was a godsend.
http://www.pdc.us/housing_services/programs/lead_hazard_control/owner_occupied_properties.asp
Posted by: Zinemama | April 29, 2009 at 03:56 PM
Green Juice! My son tested at 12ug/dl when we lived in Chicago. He was at the age of sippy cups so I just filled it with green juice and supplemented reasonably with iron. Within a short period of time he went down to 6ug/dl and he's now at about 2ug/dl. Get those greens in your kid!
Posted by: Melia | April 29, 2009 at 08:19 PM
My daughter was given NAC (n-acetyl cystine) by her naturopath for removal of extra chemotherapy as well as heavy metal build up. You could ask your doctor about it- it is an over the counter supplement. Also, seaweed- (try cooking a strip of Kombu with the cooking water when you make pasta, soup, etc. Good luck!
Posted by: Laurel | April 29, 2009 at 09:21 PM
Good to hear all these suggestions. My son tested at 5.8 at 11 months and was down to 4 3 months later. I just had him retested (another 3 months later) and haven't heard back yet, hopefully it is still going down. I know the blinds in his room are old & I hadn't even thought of them as being a potential hazard!
Posted by: cg | April 29, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Thanks so much for all of the great info. The initial 9.3 level was from a foot poke, but our ped did a blood draw and sent it out to a lab. The results of which were 7.9, lower, but still higher than our ped or I would like.
Unfortunately, Columbia county will only come out if the levels are a 10 or higher :( and we don't qualify for the PDC grant, so I guess we will have to hirer an inspector. Thanks Andrea M. for the recommendation, we plan to call ASAP.
We are currently doing some remodeling (which could also be a source of lead dust) and will have the old pipes out of the house soon. Has anyone had a successful experience with painting over lead paint or does it have to be removed?
Thanks for all the info on diet and ways to limit the amount in the water. It is nice to hear that so many of you have had success with lowering the lead levels in your children.
Thanks again to all!
Posted by: Jessica J | April 29, 2009 at 11:50 PM
Thanks for all of the useful information. It reminds me that we have been putting off changing all of the pipes in our 1903 house because of the expense, but I think we need to just get it done for the health of the family. Does anyone have a recommendation for a great plumber? We would love to hire a competent and professional plumber. Any suggestions? Thanks
Posted by: Rhonda | April 30, 2009 at 11:32 AM
When my son was about 15 months or so, his lead levels went up really high. but when he was retested they were fine. I went to a lead safety class as a precautionary thing and got a bunch of info. It was super helpful. Since then there has been no issues but you should def take the steps to protect your family!
Posted by: AJ McCreary | April 30, 2009 at 04:10 PM
I have heard that it is better to paint over lead paint rather than remove it, because it is very hard to remove it without causing dust and chips to be created. Not sure if this is accurate or not.
After reading about the woman whose three year old had elevated levels of lead and lead in her chicken eggs, I went and got my two year old and myself tested today at Kaiser. I *hope* the levels are low, but if they are not then we will have to get our chickens, house and soil tested.
Posted by: Jessi Dey | April 30, 2009 at 09:11 PM
I've read that kelp powder helps keep lead levels down* - I mix some of it into little balls of goat cheese and my daughter doesn't seem to notice the slightly, uh, oceanic taste.
(*it was in the book Super Baby Food)
Posted by: EAC | May 01, 2009 at 09:29 PM
I am looking for Mass dept. that would have info on lead leeching from porcelin baths into the water. the effect it has on adults and children. all local (Mass.) publications or addresses welcome.....thanks
Don H.
Posted by: Donal M Hanrahan | October 07, 2009 at 02:43 PM
The one post that says lead levels only cause brain damage if in the 70 to 90 micrograms per deciliter range is way off the mark. Lead causes brain damage (and has been shown to cause permanent brain damage in multiple scientific studies) with levels as low as 2 micrograms per deciliter. Some studies have also shown that the most damaging points are the first 10 micrograms - so the CDC action level is incorrect ( the 10 micrograms per deciliter that pediatricians use as a bench mark). Parents of lead poisoned children across the country are trying to get the CDC and EPA to lower the official "level of concern" to at least a BLL (Blood Lead Level) of 5 (if not 2). Even CHINA - yes CHINA has a BLL action level of 5 micrograms per deciliter - much more pro-active than the U.S. For more information about all of these questions please check out my website. http://www.mychildrenhaveleadpoisoning.com - if there is a question that you don't find answered there you can always e-mail me directly: leadsafe@mac.com
Posted by: Tamara | February 02, 2010 at 10:49 PM
Hi - if people are still reading this thread - please check this out. I have been nominated for the Jewish Community Hero award for my lead poisoning advocacy work. If I win I get $25,000 to donate to a nonprofit (or more than one) doing work in the area of my advocacy: childhood lead poisoning prevention. It is a bit of an internet popularity contest the first round - the 20 people with the most "mouse clicks" will be considered for the grand prize. There are over 100 nominees in Canada and the U.S. I am currently in 6th place - but if I can get a bump up to 5th or 4th place I would be more likely to be considered for the grand prize. Please consider voting for me. It just takes two mouse clicks (one on this link and another on the word VOTE under my photo) you do not need to enter any personal information for your vote to be counted AND you can vote every day from now until October 8th (twice a day actually! - from your phone - work computer - home computer whatever! Thank you for reading - I would love to get this award and use the money to help families whose children have been poisoned (and also reach out to parents to prevent other children from being poisoned!) http://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/tamara-rubin/
Posted by: Tamara | August 29, 2010 at 08:31 AM
Lead level problem is a very important thing in our days. If you find some information share with us please.
Posted by: Jones Ford | January 31, 2012 at 10:22 AM