Largely as a result of banning lead from our gasoline and paint, blood lead levels in children have declined significantly over the past 40 years. We’ve seen a drop from about 88% of preschool children having levels high enough to affect their health to less than 2%.
That still leaves 250,000 children aged 1 to 5 years with blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood. This is the level at which CDC recommends public health actions, like evaluating the home for sources of lead, be initiated.
But, there is no safe level for blood lead in children. Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body and often the symptoms are unrecognized. Lead especially targets the brain. Even low levels can cause learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.
Lead poisoning, however, is preventable. We must continue to identify children at risk and potential sources of lead exposure.
Small aircraft continue to use leaded aviation gasoline. Lead from aviation gasoline is emitted into the air and can deposit on the ground. According to a study by the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, aviation gasoline is a small but significant source of lead exposure among children living near airports. The study’s authors compared the blood lead levels of children living near airports in six counties in North Carolina with children living farther away from the airports but in the same counties.
They found that children living within 500, 1000, and 1500 meters of an airport had average blood lead levels that were 4.4, 3.8, and 2.1% higher than other children. Their findings remained true after they accounted for other potential sources of lead exposure.
Unfortunately, they did not have information about where the children attended school or day care. Children attending school or day care near an airport but living farther away may have high blood lead levels but would have been counted among children not living near an airport. The reverse of this is also true. Children living near an airport but attending school or day care farther away may have low levels but would have been counted among children living near an airport. Knowing how much time children spent near an airport could strengthen the results of the study and make the impact of leaded aviation gasoline more clear.
But the results do indicate that leaded aviation gasoline may be an important source of childhood lead exposure. According to the EPA, 16 million people live within 1 km of an airport and 3 million children attend school within 1 km of an airport. That's 16 million people and 3 million children with a greater risk of lead poisoning. These findings could help us further reduce the percent of children with blood lead levels of concern if we are able to eliminate lead from aviation gasoline or at least prevent children’s exposure to it.
As a country, we should consider removing lead from aviation gasoline. According to the article, in response to a petition from an environmental group, the EPA has proposed a rule for requiring aircraft to use unleaded fuel.
As a community, we should evaluate how close our schools and day care centers are to airports. While it would be difficult and maybe not necessary to relocate existing school and centers, we should consider location of airports when building new ones. Children attending school and day care centers already located near airports should be screened for blood lead poisoning.
As parents and guardians, we should take extra precautions to prevent lead poisoning of our children if they live or spend time near an airport. Captain Gary Noonan of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered advice to parents concerned about their child’s exposure to lead from aviation gasoline. He said to avoid contact with lead in soil, parents should:
· Regularly wash children’s hands and toys.
· Regularly wet-mop floors and wet-wipe window components to remove household dust.
· Prevent children from playing in bare soil. Avoiding exposure to lead in the air is more difficult for an individual. “But as always,” CAPT Noonan said, “if you are concerned about your child’s exposure to lead, talk to your doctor. He or she can test your child’s blood lead levels”.
Article: Miranda ML, Anthopolos R, Hastings D. A geospatial analysis of the effects of aviation gasoline on childhood blood lead levels. Environ Health Perspect 119:1513-1516 (2011). Available at: http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1003231
Judy Hall, I am grandmother-in-law to Ariela Freedman
ReplyDeleteThis paper was very informative. I had no idea that aviation gasoline contained lead and presented the risk to children in the proximity of airports. This possibility of risk to children was surprising and upsetting. This paper is well written, giving the layperson factual information, possible solutions and recommendations for parents with children at risk. I wonder if any rule from the EPA will be enough or if legislation will be needed for resolution.
This is a very interesting paper from both public health and social justice perspectives. You did a great job explaining a highly scientific topic in an easy to read, understandable manner. I really like the straightforward policy solutions you suggest. I would consider eliminating some of the statistical information to make the article a bit more reader friendly for a lay audience. For example, you could say “They found that children living within close proximity to an airport had average blood lead levels higher than other children.” I really enjoyed reading your article. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHallie Willis- Ariela’s friend and former colleague
Wow - that's scary! We used to live about two miles from an airport in Minneapolis and I never thought about that as being a risk for kids. Also, I think about all the daycares/schools located down there, and that is extra scary. As part of our Head Start performance standards, we had to make sure all of our kids had blood lead tests done at least once. Most of what we were concerned with was their immediate living environment (house, dirt outside house with potential lead from old paint) -- not proximity to airport.
ReplyDeleteGood recommendations at the end - practical and to the point.
I'm passing this blog along to my Head Start friends!
Thanks for the summary of an environmental hazard that affects millions of children. It will help parents to understand the risks of living near an airport. The article provided advice for prevention. Are there materials that describe treatments for high lead levels? If one cannot move locations of home or schools can on-going treatment of children with high levels occur at the same time prevention is used? What are the risks associated with treatment? Also, if prevention advice says to limit playing in dirt, are we inadvertently limiting children's ability to play outside and get physical activity? What are alternative safe outside play activities?
ReplyDeleteTamara Mason (Teach For America colleague & friend of Dr. Freedman; current RSPH staff member)
ReplyDeleteI think this is a well written article that was clear and to the point. I thought it was pretty easy for a lay person to understand. I agree that the simple recommendations in the article would make it easier for parents that are concerned about this issue to take some action. I also agree with the comment above regarding whether the recommendation of limiting children's play time in bare soil inadvertently limits children's physical activity, which as we know--some children currently aren't getting enough physical activity as is so adding alternative physical activity recommendations may be helpful.
Thanks for the comments. I think you're comments capture the reality of the situation. Though this seems like a simple problem (eliminate kids exposure to lead from aviation gasoline) its actually complicated. Removing lead from the gas is the best option for protecting health. But that requires policy changes. If that doesn't happen, then you'd want to move and relocate schools and day care centers. That just wouldn't be possible in a lot of cases. The fact is you have to eliminate the exposure. You can treat high levels but if you don't eliminate the exposure, levels will go up again. If fact at low levels, treatment starts with eliminating the source and naturally letting the levels go down. If the child has really high levels, then they will use a chelating agent to pull the lead out.
ReplyDeleteThe added risk around an airport is small though so I think the first step would be to have your child tested. It may not be an issue for your location. For instant, the risk seems greater if you are down wind of the airport or directly under the runway path.
Washing hands. Keeping dust in the house at a minimum. These protect kids from many household sources of lead. As for playing outside, bare soil is the concern because of the tendency for kids to put their hands in their months. They can play outside but you should prevent them from digging in the dirt. One suggestion from CDC is to give them a sandbox but make sure it has a cover. Thanks again.