Lead Poisoning Prevention: An Overview of Lead Health Hazards.
Did you know that lead is a highly toxic metal that was commonly used in paint before 1978?
Outside a building, deteriorated lead paint can mix with soil and be tracked inside.
Inside a building, deteriorated lead paint can mix with household dust and collect on flat surfaces like windowsills and floors.
People can be exposed to lead through inhalation or ingestion.
Once lead enters the body, it can be adsorbed, causing brain and other vital organ damage. Health issues that occur due to lead poisoning can range from behavioral problems and learning disorders to more extreme cases of seizures and death.
Children and pregnant women are more likely to develop lead poisoning after exposure because a growing body uptakes nutrients and other substances faster than expected from a typical adult.
Children are exposed more often because they spend more time on floors and playing outside.
Exposure can happen when children put their contaminated hands or toys in their mouth. They also may eat lead paint chips because lead can taste sweet.
What can you do to help prevent lead poisoning for your family?
1) Good Housekeeping. Keep flat surfaces, like floors and windowsills, clean by wiping them down with a wet paper towel, mop floors weekly to control dust, take off shoes when entering the home so that you don’t track outside dust in, and vacuum carpets and furniture regularly! Also, be sure to wash children’s toys often!
If you find paint chips, pick these up with a wet paper towel and throw them away, then clean the area thoroughly.
2) Get your home tested for lead-based paint! You can hire an accredited lead inspector, they will check every painted surface in the home for lead.
If you think you may have lead dust hazards caused by a lead source, you can hire a lead-based paint risk assessor, who will look for signs of deteriorated conditions, and test for lead dust in the home.
3) If you are renovating a home built before 1978, you must hire a certified lead firm.
For renovations, you can hire a certified lead renovation firm. If you are removing lead-based paint, you must hire a certified lead abatement firm.
Finally, ask your doctor to test your child’s blood lead level at ages 1 and 2.
Children from 3 to 6 years of age should have their blood tested if they have not been tested before and: They live in or visit a house built before 1950, or a house built before 1978 with ongoing or recent renovations or remodeling.
You should also request blood testing if a sibling or playmate has, or did have, lead poisoning.
For more information on lead hazards, lead regulations, and working around lead, please check out our website, leadsafe.ua.edu, or email us with questions.
Негізгі бет Lead Poisoning Prevention An Overview of Lead Health Hazards
No video
Пікірлер