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Henrietta K. Sachs, MD
Glencoe, Ill

JAMA. 1996;275(22):1725-1726.

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

To the Editor.

—Contrary to the results of the study by Dr Needleman and colleagues,¹ after a 3-decade follow-up study of more than 69 of 110 (63%) of my former patients whose blood lead levels were between 4.83 and 22.68 µmol/L (100 and 470 µg/dL), I have yet to encounter the predicted outcome. Eighty percent of this cohort of inner-city black subjects graduated from high school, a third entered college, and 6 have already obtained 1 or 2 degrees. Three of the college graduates had symptoms of incipient encephalopathy before they received chelation therapy.²

Needleman et al leave several questions unanswered. Has the x-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique been validated on children with known lead poisoning (ie, lead concentrations in blood of 3.86 µmol/L [80 µg/dL] or more)? Their study lacks a proper control population.

We have lead in our red blood cells at the time of birth, and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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