Study: Low Lead Levels Potentially Harmful to Children's IQ
A
six-year study at Cornell University suggests that the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) standard for blood-lead levels
(BLLs) in children may not be low enough. Researchers announced on Nov.
20 they have found that even very small amounts of lead in children's
blood -- amounts well below the current federal standard -- are
associated with reduced IQ scores.
The study examined the effect of lead exposure on cognitive function
in children whose BLLs were below the CDC standard of 10 micrograms per
deciliter (mcg/dl) -- about 100 parts per billion. The researchers
compared children whose BLLs were between 0 mcg/dl and 5 mcg/dl with
children in the 5m cg/dl to 10 mcg/dl range.
"Even after taking into consideration family and environmental
factors known to affect a child's cognitive performance, blood lead
played a significant role in predicting nonverbal IQ scores," said
Richard Canfield, a senior researcher in Cornell University's Division
of Nutritional Sciences and senior author of the study. "We found that
the average IQ scores of children with BLLs of only 5 to 10 mcg/dl were
about 5 points lower than the IQ scores of children with BLLs less than
5 mcg/dl. This indicates an adverse effect on children who have a BLL
substantially below the CDC standard, suggesting the need for more
stringent regulations," he said.
In the United States over the past several months nearly 50 specific
products, including millions of toys for young children, have been
recalled due to excessive lead in the paint, plastics, and metal." Our
findings emphasize the very real dangers associated with low-level
exposures, to which lead in toys can contribute," Canfield said.
U.S. children are exposed to lead primarily from household dust
contaminated by deteriorating interior lead-based paint. In addition to
toys, other potential sources include contaminated soil, imported food
stored in lead-glazed pottery and certain plastic, metallic and painted
products.
This most recent finding builds on the same research team's 2003 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine,
that reported adverse effects of BLLs below 10 mcg/dl in a group of
children followed from infancy to age 5 years. "Our new findings are
based on follow-up testing of the same children at age 6, using a more
comprehensive IQ test to assess cognitive function. The results provide
compelling evidence that low-level lead exposure has effects into the
school-age years," said co-author Todd Jusko, a Cornell alumnus and a
University of Washington Ph.D. candidate in epidemiology.
"Children living in poverty disproportionately suffer from elevated
BLLs," said statistician and co-author Charles Henderson, a Cornell
senior researcher in human development. He also noted that "even a
small decline in an IQ score is likely to be reflected in aptitude test
scores such as the SAT."
According to the CDC, about one out of every 50 children in the
United States between ages 1 and 5 has a BLL above 10 mcg/dl and about
10 percent of children have BLLs of 5 mcg/dl or greater; about 25
percent of U.S. homes with children under age 6 have a lead-based paint
hazard.
"The bottom line," according to Canfield, "is that lead is a
persistent neurotoxin that causes brain damage. The fact that lead has
been found in millions of toys, even toys specifically designed for
children to put into their mouths, presents an unacceptable risk. Our
findings suggest the need to re-evaluate the current federal standards
for lead in consumer products and the current definition of an elevated
BLL in children."
The research was funded primarily by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Richard Canfield: http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/bio.cfm?netid=rlc5