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Childhood lead poisoning from paint chips: a continuing problem

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Abstract

Although lead poisoning (plumbism) has been recognized for centuries, lead exposures still occur frequently today because of its varied uses and persistence in the environment. Despite the awareness of the adverse effects of lead on adults, childhood plumbism was first reported only about a century ago. Young children are one of the most vulnerable groups to the adverse effects of lead because of their rapidly developing vulnerable groups to the adverse effects of lead because of their rapidly developing central nervous systems. Federal regulations in the 1970s have been successfully implemented to decrease the amount of environmental lead by decreasing the content of lead in gasoline and indoor paint. However, almost 30 years after these laws were passed, inner-city housing with leaded paint still exists. We describe three children living in New York City who developed plumbism from the ingestion of leaded paint chips.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center/Kings County Hospital Center, 451 Clarkson Avenue, 11203, Brooklyn, NY

    Mark Su

  2. New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center, New York, New York

    Fermin Barrueto Jr. &  Robert S. Hoffman

  3. New York City Posion Control Center, New York, New York

    Mark Su,  Fermin Barrueto Jr. &  Robert S. Hoffman

Authors
  1. Mark Su
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  2. Fermin Barrueto Jr.
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  3. Robert S. Hoffman
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Correspondence to Mark Su.

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Su, M., Barrueto, F. & Hoffman, R.S. Childhood lead poisoning from paint chips: a continuing problem. J Urban Health 79, 491–501 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1093/jurban/79.4.491

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jurban/79.4.491

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