When I was a kid, there was lead in paint and gasoline (which could explain a lot...). Thankfully, both uses were stopped in 1978 and 1996, respectively. As a result, blood lead levels (the way human contamination is measured) have dropped dramatically, and American kids today are far less likely to be exposed to the toxic metal.

But old paint lasts - and is a real problem in dilapidated, pre-1978 housing where dust is contaminated, old paint chips find their way into baby and toddler mouths, and rehab work must be done v-e-r-y carefully. There are other sources of personal lead pollution, including glazed pottery, artificial turf (!), and some tap water pipes (you can - and should - get your water tested).

As a result of these ongoing exposures, (primarily low-income) kids still get lead in their bodies. And even at low levels, a new peer-reviewed study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found kidney damage in teenagers that they warn could lead to kidney disease later in life.

High-level lead exposure is a known risk for kidney disease. This study's authors sought to better understand the effects of low-level exposures, and found evidence that kids with blood lead levels (aka "BLLs") as low as 2.9 micrograms - 7.1 below the federal "safe" limit - showed signs of damaged, slower-functioning kidneys. As the report authors concluded,

This finding contributes to the increasing epidemiologic evidence indicating an adverse effect of low-level environmental lead exposure.

Take steps to reduce children's exposures
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has some simple but important steps for preventing exposure to lead. If you have children in the house or work with them, preventing their exposure to lead is a very important step to promote their environmental health.

[Thanks to Flickr CC & Abby Lanes for the chipping paint]

It's the Thursday before Halloween and my kids haven't quite decided what to be. Top runners at this point (it changes daily) are pretty standard: witch and princess.

And no, I'm not sewing their costumes from scratch (far from it, actually: I'm midnight emailing friends whose kids have cool costumes to borrow).

So when I read this week's report about lead in face paints, I was (for once!) glad to be behind. Now I can praise the beauty of plain faces under pointy hats and crowns BEFORE promising to paint them.

What's wrong with face painting?
Nothing - IF the paints are safe for our skin, especially the more sensitive skin of little trick-or-treaters. But if there's a chance of lead in the paint, and other heavy metals, too (think: nickel, chromium, and cobalt), it's a better bet to skip the paint. The potential of short and longer-term allergic reactions to heavy metals isn't worth the risk, nor is the possibility of adding to a child's lead burden.

Paint safely if you paint
For those of us who have already promised or just want to paint already, here are some tips from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for safe face painting this week (and beyond):

• Choose costumes that don't require face paint or masks (which may also contain toxic chemicals and impair vision and breathing).


• Make your own face paint with food-grade ingredients. The Campaign put together a few recipe ideas.


• If you do use face paint, keep it away from kids' mouths and hands so they don't ingest it.

None.

And since lead and other heavy metals aren't exactly listed on the label and products aren't required to be tested for safety, it takes expensive tests like the ones used in this report to know whether your face paint is safe or not. Sure makes shopping for a Halloween costume harder than it needs to be.

BUT. The most serious lead exposures are from house paint
While avoiding lead exposures of any kind is prudent and makes sense to most parents, focusing your attention on the most likely routes of exposure is important.

Most children are exposed when they eat lead paint chips (it was allowed for house painting before 1978) or inhale lead dust during home rehabilitation. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has excellent tips on preventing your children from coming into contact with lead.

Read the full report from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, "Pretty Scary: Could Halloween Face Paint Cause Lifelong Health Problems?"

[Many thanks to Flickr CC & L2F1 for the great Spider Man face]

Written by Guest Blogger Lydia Denworth, Author, Toxic Truth

Back in August of 2007, I was trying to work on vacation. I was squirreled away in a back bedroom surrounded by files and books when I got a Google alert. Millions of toys were being recalled because of dangerously high levels of leads.

It was a bittersweet moment. When I started work on a book about the battle over lead, I heard a lot about how lead was a problem of the past. That, of course, was part of the point: the book was about what it took to be able to say exactly that. But I often said that lead has a way of coming back to haunt us.

Looking at the email, I wanted to throw open the screen door and shout: I told you so! At the same time, who wants to be right about such a thing? If only it were a problem of the past. For one thing, I wouldn't have to now run to the toy bin and extract every Thomas the Tank Engine.

Furthermore, I was literally surrounded by the history of the battle over lead. Within arm's reach was a book that mentioned the first federal pamphlet warning parents about the dangers of lead in toys--in the 1930s. Another book described a study that found that 25% of Mattel toys had dangerously high levels of lead--in 1957.

Have we learned nothing? I thought bitterly.

At least this time, much of America shared my outrage. Congress soon passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which aimed to keep products for children 12 and younger lead free (or nearly). It was meant to go fully into effect a few weeks ago.

Between then and now, a backlash arose. When the Consumer Product Safety Commission looked at how to implement and enforce the new law, they literally found that lead was "here, there, and everywhere," a spokesperson told me. The CPSIA would have to apply to an enormous array of products from barrettes and books to t-shirts and plush toys. A wide range of manufacturers would be affected.

Soon concern shifted from Fisher-Price to the mom who silk-screens kids' t-shirts in her basement or the charity shop that resells used toys. Would small businesses be forced to close? The blogosphere filled with posts about the unintended consequences of the CPSIA.

I am sympathetic. I agree that the law needs to bring common sense to bear. The mom making t-shirts should probably not have to pay for testing if every part of her product (fabric, ink, etc.) has already been tested by its manufacturer and found lead-free. I hope and believe the Consumer Product Safety Commission will be responsive to these concerns. The fact that it instituted a one-year stay of enforcement in February instead of requiring the testing on the original schedule indicates there are details to be worked out.

But steeped as I am in the history of lead, I fear we are now losing sight of other consequences. Lead poisoning is entirely preventable--no lead exposure, no lead poisoning. The CPSIA will limit children's exposure to lead. Take the regulatory eye off that goal and lead creeps into a surprising variety of products.

Artificial turf is an example that's been in the news recently. In New Jersey and California, authorities found fields with unacceptably high levels of lead. The California fields contained nearly six times the allowed concentration--and 37 times the lower level mandated by the CPSIA.

Lead in artificial turf makes the colors in logos and lines brighter. When a field is new the risk is low, but as a field ages and weathers, the risk of lead dust being released increases--exactly as it does with lead paint. Kids playing on the field can inhale or ingest that dust.

The history of the effort to protect children from lead provides an alarming list of missed opportunities. A few examples:

• Australian doctors first linked lead paint to childhood lead poisoning in 1904. American doctors thought the Australians were "addlepated by the heat" and mostly ignored them.

• Twelve countries banned lead paint from interior use in the 1920s. The United States waited until 1978.

• When pediatrician Herbert Needleman treated his first lead-poisoned child in 1957, doctors were still routinely failing to diagnose lead poisoning--even when the patients were nearly comatose or suffering convulsions.

• The Clean Air Act of 1970 required the EPA to begin regulating the levels of lead in the air within thirty days. Sixteen years and several lawsuits later, EPA took lead out of gasoline.

Manufacturers of leaded gasoline said the same thing we're hearing now about the CPSIA: the costs of getting the lead out are prohibitive and the benefits aren't worth it. In the 1980s, the EPA took the then unusual approach of producing a cost-benefit analysis. Yes, the analysts said, taking lead out of gasoline would cost the industries concerned hundreds of millions of dollars. But the EPA used the health research that was just then emerging to also show that if lead remained in gasoline, it would cost the country nearly twice as much in health care, lost wages, special education and other costs.

When lead finally was taken out of gasoline, new paint, food cans and other products, the effects were dramatic. Before 1980, millions of American children had elevated lead levels. Today, that number is down to just over 300,000. That is still too many, but it represents a major improvement.

Now we know even more about what lead does to children's brains. Lead affects IQ, reading, auditory processing, and attention and has been linked to juvenile delinquency. The latest studies show that there's more harm done between 3 and 10 micrograms per deciliter than between 13 and 20. Is a brighter team logo on a soccer field worth that cost?

We must not now become complacent and go backwards. Regulations like the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act prove that we can learn from our mistakes and relegate toy recalls for lead paint to the history books--where they belong.

[This piece was originally posted on Beacon Broadside, a project of Beacon Press; you can learn more about Lydia's work here.]