Preventing Childhood Lead Poisoning

Of all the neurotoxins, lead is the longest known and best understood. Because we know so much about what it does, where it is, and what is required to remove it from the presence of children, lead poisoning should also be one of the easiest diseases to eradicate. Despite this, progress in the primary prevention of childhood lead poisoning has been halting and erratic. In this paper, I outline the rapidly advancing state of knowledge on the epidemiology and toxicology of lead, examine some of the reasons for the gap between what is known and what has been accomplished, and outline the steps toward authentic primary prevention. Eradication of childhood lead poisoning is a realizable goal. Its importance is unquestioned; former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan declared in 1991 that it is the most serious environmental disease of North American children.