Kidsdata.org provides the number and percentage of children under the age of 20 who were tested and found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood. Medicaid and state regulations require that every child covered by a government-funded health program be preventively screened for lead poisoning twice, once at 12 months old and again at age 2. A screening consists of a blood test administered in a health care setting. When blood tests are missed, health care providers are required to screen the child at the first opportunity up until age 6. In addition, it is recommended that health professionals screen any children or youth who exhibit symptoms of lead exposure, have known lead exposure, and who are considered to be at risk for lead exposure.

Note: The information presented for this topic is not exhaustive of all relevant data, and has limitations. Kidsdata offers these and other data to draw attention to the environmental influences on children's health and to encourage exploration of the issues. These indicators will be revised as new data emerge from initiatives such as the National Children's Study and are updated in the California Environmental Health Tracking Program site.

Exposure to lead, found mostly in old/chipping paint and contaminated soil, is related to low IQ scores, behavioral problems, seizures, coma, and even death at different levels of exposure (1). A blood lead level of 9.5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) or greater is considered elevated, but adverse health effects can occur at much lower concentrations (1, 2). Therefore, most governments agree that there is no safe level of exposure to lead. 

Children are especially vulnerable to toxic substances, such as lead, as their systems are more fragile and their skin is more permeable (3). Young children also come into greater contact with toxins by playing or crawling on the ground, and through hand-mouth contact (1, 3).

For more information on lead poisoning see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section.

Sources for this narrative:

1. Godwin, H. (2009). Southern California environmental report card: Lead exposure and poisoning in children. UCLA Institute of the Environment. Retrieved from: http://www.environment.ucla.edu/reportcard/article.asp?parentid=3772
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Preventing lead poisoning in young children. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/publications/prevleadpoisoning.pdf 
3. United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2007). A decade of children's environmental health research: Highlights from EPA's Science to Achieve Results Program. Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/publications/research_results_synthesis/

Pound for pound, children are more vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the environment than are adults (1). Toxins that may be present in the air they breathe, in water and beverages they drink, in the food they eat and in the ground on which they play can harm their health. 

According to research and experts, policies to improve children’s environmental health, overall, could include:

• Creating healthier school environments by setting appropriate construction standards and fixing structural problems in existing schools (2) 
• Establishing and implementing improved standards and guidelines for school environmental health, addressing areas such as building ventilation, mold prevention, routine cleaning and maintenance, managing chemical exposure, and controlling pests (2) 
• Focusing broadly on multiple deficiencies and hazards in housing environments and early childhood settings—for example, advancing strategic partnerships among organizations focused on health, education, environmental protection, and housing—instead of focusing on single factors, such as lead or asbestos exposure (3, 4)
• Promoting a research agenda that examines the connections between the built environment and physical and behavioral health, to inform land use policy and regulation of environmental toxins (5)
• Enforcing existing laws and regulations that limit vehicle emissions, agricultural practices that generate dust and pesticide exposure, and industrial practices that generate air pollution (6)

For more policy ideas on environmental health, see the California Adolescent Health Collaborative, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Homes Initiative, the California Department of Public Health’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch, and the Center for Children’s Environmental Health. Also see policy implications under the Asthma topic on kidsdata.org.

Sources for this narrative:

1. Landrigan, P. J., & Carlson, J. E. (1995). Environmental policy and children’s health. Future of Children, (5)2, 34-52. Princeton University and Brookings Institution. Retrieved from: http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/05_02_04.pdf
2. California Air Resources Board and California Department of Health Care Services. (2004). Report to the California legislature: Environmental health conditions in California’s portable classrooms. Retrieved from: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/reports/l3006.pdf
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Healthy Homes Initiative. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/healthyhomes.htm
4. Bachrach, A., et al. (2010). Environmental health in early childhood systems building: opportunities for states. National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved from: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_981.pdf
5. Lane, S. D., et al. (2008). Environmental injustice: childhood lead poisoning, teen pregnancy, and tobacco. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(1), 43-49. Retrieved from: http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X%2807%2900294-7/abstract
6. Salam, M. T., et al. (2008). Recent evidence for adverse effects of residential proximity to traffic sources on asthma. Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, 14(1), 3-8. Retrieved from: http://sunscreamer.com/publiccomment/Documents/salam%20mt%20traffic%20asthma%20pulm%20opin%202008.pdf

In 2010, 2,297 children/youth in California ages 0-20 (0.3% of all children tested) were found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, down from 0.6% in 2007. The vast majority of children tested are under age 6, due to government testing regulations for young children. Among those ages 0-5 screened in 2010, 0.3% (2,035 children) had elevated levels of lead in their blood, also a decline from previous years. While elevated blood lead levels are defined as 9.5 micrograms per deciliter or more, most governments agree that there is no safe level of exposure to lead.

Note: Children’s environmental health is an emerging area of research, and the data currently available give a limited picture of how children in California are faring. In many cases, county-level data are not specific enough to inform conclusions about children’s health risks, but they can spark further inquiry.

• America’s Children and the Environment
• California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool, California Environmental Protection Agency & the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
• California Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch
• Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School
• Children’s Environmental Health Network
• ChildStats.gov, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
• Environmental Health Perspectives
• Environmental Protection Agency: Children’s Health Protection Program
• Environmental Protection Agency: Water Home
• Healthy Homes Initiative, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health

• A Decade of Children’s Environmental Health Research, 12/2007, Environmental Protection Agency & Children’s Health Protection Program
• America’s Children and the Environment, Third Edition, 2013, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Children’s Exposure to Elemental Mercury: National Report of Exposure Events, 04/2009, The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Environmental Health in Early Childhood Systems Building: Opportunities for States, 12/2010, National Center for Children in Poverty, Bachrach, Higgins & Stagman
• Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, 2012, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Lead Prevention Tips, 2013, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now (2008–2009 Annual Report), 2010, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health & National Cancer Institute, President’s Cancer Panel
• The Children's Health Study, California Environmental Protection Agency
• Who Are America’s Poor Children? Examining Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity, 07/2011, National Center for Children in Poverty

• Southern California Environmental Report Card 2009: Lead Exposure and Poisoning in Children, 2009, UCLA Institute of the Environment, Godwin

add your report to kidsdata.org

Do you have a local or regional report relevant to a topic on kidsdata.org? If you’d like to add it to our research and links section, please send it to us at kidsdata@lpfch.org.