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Childhood Lead Poisoning brochures and booklets

Graph of the decline in lead poisoning rates in Cleveland from 40% in 1996 to 6% in 2007.

Data from Cleveland Department of Public Health and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health

 

Lead Poisoning in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County - Dramatic Declines, Continuing Crisis

Too Many Kids Have Too Much Lead
And It’s Everybody’s Problem

  • In Cleveland, East Cleveland, and Cuyahoga County, too many kids have too much lead and it is everybody’s problem. Of children tested in 2007, 16% in the entire County, 22% in Cleveland and 24% in East Cleveland had levels of lead that could diminish their life-chances.
  • Lead poisoning is a tragedy for the child and their family. When rates are this high, it is tragedy for the entire community. It is everybody’s problem. If you are worried about school performance, worry about lead. If you are worried about crime, worry about lead. If you are worried about workforce readiness, worry about lead. more
  • Most of the costs – for the children, for their families and for the community – cannot be calculated. But for some interventions and outcomes associated with childhood lead poisoning, we can make reasonable estimates of the dollar cost. We looked at the lifetime costs for the 6500 children tested in 2004 with elevated blood-lead levels. A new Economic Policy Institute study also researches the costs and benefits of lead hazard control, concluding there are significant returns to investing in early action controlling lead.

What is "Lead Poisoning"

  • The amount of lead in a child's blood is measured in micrograms of lead per tenth of a liter of blood (mcg/dl).  In 1990, the Centers for Disease Control established a lead level of 10 mcg/dl or greater as the "level-of-concern" (now commonly considered "lead-poisoned"). The level of concern is the level at which CDC recommends public health actions be initiated. At the time, CDC did not define the threshold of 10 mcg/dl as "lead poisoning," acknowledging damage below 10 mcg/dl.
  • As evidence of lead's damage at lower levels continues to accumulate, there are increasing calls for CDC to lower the level of concern threshhold. See Lead's Damage Below Currently Accepted Levels, American Public Health Association and A Small Dose


Modified from A Small Dose

New "Level of Awareness" for Cleveland/Cuyahoga County

  • The four public health departments in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland Department of Public Health, Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Lakewood Department of Human Services and the Shaker Heights Health Department), based on research by the Medical Committee of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council, recommends a child blood-lead level of 5mcg/dl be used as a new level of awareness in the region, the level at which response should be initiated. See Lead Facts for Greater Cleveland Health Care Providers and Lead Testing Requirements and Medical Management Recommendations Chart.
  • The new level of awareness at 5 mcg/dl recognizes that many more children than previously acknowledged are potentially hurt by lead - more than 22% of children tested in Cleveland in 2006 and more than 24% in the East Cleveland.

Cleveland Childhood Lead Poisoning Rates - 2007

  • Based on the CDC blood-lead level-of-concern (10 mcg/dl), 961 children in Cleveland were identified as lead-poisoned, 6% of those tested in 2007.
  • Based on the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County blood-lead level-of-awareness (5 mcg/dl), 3,322 children in Cleveland were identified as lead-poisoned, 22% of those tested in 2007.  
  • Only 28% of children were tested, so most children hurt by lead are never identified. Of the 72% of children who were not tested, no doubt many were also lead-poisoned in 2007.
  • In several Cleveland neighborhoods, a third or more of children tested at 5 or above. For a 2007 breakdown by census tract within neighborhoods see this chart.
  • Prevalence history of Cleveland including charts and maps dating back to 1995.

Cuyahoga County Childhood Lead Poisoning Rates - 2004-2007

  • Based on the CDC blood-lead level-of-concern (10 mcg/dl), in 2007, 1,176 children in the Cuyahoga County were identified as lead-poisoned, 5% of those tested.
  • Based on the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County blood-lead level-of-awareness (5 mcg/dl), 4,070 children in the Cuyahoga County were identified as lead-poisoned, 16% of those tested in 2007.

How does Cleveland rank nationally? It is always at or near the top.

  • The chart below compares the cities with the largeste number of lead-poisoned children identified by testing (2003 data). Cleveland’s rate was the highest. Chicago had the most poisoned children.
  • Cleveland’s high rate makes sense, since it also at the top for poverty. Lead poisoning is primarily a disease of poverty.

  

National blood-lead level declines - Major public health victory

  • The decrease in children's average blood-lead levels 1976-1999 is a major public health victory.
  • How did this happen? Not by cleaning up the lead, but by eliminating the sources of lead – in paint, in gasoline and other products.

  • Now that the major sources are removed however, clean-up of exposure pathways – lead-contaminated dust and soil and failed lead-based paint - is needed. This is much more costly and difficult because it must be done one house at a time. So the rate of decline is sure to taper-off and likely to stall.

Strategy for childhood lead poisoning prevention

  • First an intense focus on children, pregnant women, housing and neighborhoods at highest risk.
  • Second an outreach and education effort to broadly integrate lead safety into all aspects of housing.
  • The strategy is not dependent on stand-alone lead hazard control in a huge number of homes which would be an impossibly expensive undertaking.
  • The goal is for lead safety awareness to become an ordinary part of everyday home repair, maintenance, renovation and cleaning.
  • "Test the home, not the child, and eliminate all non-essential uses of lead. The key is to require screening of high-risk, older housing units to identify lead hazards before a child is poisoned - before occupancy and after renovation or abatement." Dr. Bruce Lanphear, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. See Preventing and Managing Lead Poisoning

More Information on Lead Poisoning

Other sites -


Flags representing the number of lead-poisoned children in Cleveland displayed for a Lead-Safe Living rally of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (July 19, 2006)


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