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Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MPH; Joseph Carra, MS

JAMA. 1994;272(4):315-316.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Lead poisoning is one of the worst environmental threats to children in the United States and is also entirely preventable.¹ An increased understanding of the adverse effects of lead poisoning—neurological, endocrinological, hematological, reproductive, and growth—resulted in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowering the acceptable blood lead level three times in the last 20 years.²

The article by Pirkle et al³ documents the dramatic decrease in blood lead levels from 0.62 to 0.14 µmol/L (12.8 to 2.8 µg/dL) between 1976 to 1980 and 1988 to 1991. Most significantly, the percentage of US children aged 1 to 5 years with blood lead levels 0.48 µmol/L (10 µg/dL) or greater decreased from 88.2% to 8.9%. Decreases in blood lead levels occurred for all age and income groups. This is surely one of the most remarkable public health achievements of the decade and is undoubtedly the result of government . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to US Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St SW, Washington, DC 20460 (Dr Goldman).

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