Bakersfield.com: Kern County news, events, classifieds, shopping, & search

RSS Feed   Print Story   E-mail Story        

Hidden danger: Lead and children

Oildale twins struck by lead poisoning

BY STACEY SHEPARD, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sshepard@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Nov 13 2007 10:15 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Nov 13 2007 10:36 PM

To look at Thomas Crocker, you'd never know he has poison pumping through his veins.

Like most 3-year-olds, he smiles and laughs a lot, especially when playing with twin sister Joedina.

But Joedina can talk circles around Thomas. She's more energetic, more social and she's ahead of her brother when it comes to tasks like potty-training and dressing herself.

A year ago, both Oildale toddlers were found to have lead in their blood, a condition that can cause serious irreversible damage in the developing brains and neurological systems of toddlers.

In Thomas, the situation was severe. The lead in his body was almost four times the level considered safe by national standards and a subsequent medical evaluation showed it was likely to blame for his delayed speech and motor skills.

"You can really see the difference in the children," said the twins' grandmother, Betty Thomas, who had custody of the children for just a few days when the poisoning was discovered last year. "(Joedina) is so far advanced. You see what lead can do to a kid."

How it happens

No one knows how the lead got in the twins' blood but if experts had to guess, they'd point to a home they lived in, not a toy made in China. Despite recalls of imported toys and trinkets tainted with the toxic metal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says lead paint in homes is still the primary source of exposure for children. Local officials say the same holds true in Kern County, where 50 percent of homes were built before 1978, when lead was banned in paint.

Roughly 85 Kern County children are diagnosed with elevated lead levels each year and the most common source of exposure is the child's home, according to figures from the county Department of Public Health, which runs a Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

Because doctors aren't required to test kids for lead, the actual number of children affected by lead could be double that, according to Kathy Van Reusen, a senior health educator with the Public Health department.

"Even though we have prolific growth of new homes, we forget that there are many old homes in Bakersfield," said Matt Constantine, director of the county's Environmental Health Services Department, which works with the Public Health department to conduct home inspections whenever high amounts of lead are detected in a child.

Lead gets into a child's system when paint inside or outside the home chips or peels. A child may eat a paint chip, but more commonly, it becomes dust in the home. Children can inhale the dust or ingest it whenever they put their hands in their mouth. Toddlers are most susceptible since they crawl on the floor and put things in their mouths.

Renovating a home can also pose a risk.

Michelle Pearl-Krizo, a Public Health department nurse, recalled a case in which an 18-month-old child was exposed to lead when his father, a contractor, was renovating a middle-class home the family recently purchased.

"It was in the summer and the fans were on to keep it cool," she said. "The kids was crawling around and got poisoned from the inhalation and the hand-to-mouth exposure."

According to some estimates, daily ingestion of as little as three sugar-sized granules of lead can poison a child.

Subtle symptoms

The biggest danger when it comes to lead poisoning is it often goes undetected because the symptoms are subtle.

"It gets into a child's system and you often can't tell," Van Reusen said. "There could be kids out there now in special education programs because they have learning or behavior problems" caused by undetected lead in their systems.

While most doctors won't test a child for lead unless the child lives in an old home or has a parent who works in a lead-related industry, Public Health officials urge all parents to have their child tested at ages 1 and 2.

Medical experts have long warned that children under 6 are the most vulnerable to lead poisoning because it impacts their developing brains and neurological systems. Once affected, the damage is often irreversible. Kids who suffer lead poisoning have higher dropout rates, more likelihood for violence and lower IQs, according to research.

"The neurological development is so fast and it's a unique stage in their life. If they miss learning at that stage, it could be permanent," said Dr. Javier Bustamante, a Bakersfield pediatrician.

Hope for eliminating lead

Thomas, the Oildale twin, now attends school five days a week to help improve his motor skills and speech.

The lead is slowly leaving his body but not as fast as anyone hoped. A year after he began a high-calcium, high-protein diet, the lead has dropped by half, but still lingers in a range considered dangerous. His doctors now suspect the lead exposure was so extreme, the metal seeped into his bones, where it can stay for up to seven years.

The twins are two of about 300,000 children in the United States diagnosed with lead poisoning each year. While the national rate has gone down drastically in recent years, some say not enough is being done to eliminate a preventable illness.

State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, this year introduced a bill that would require all California children to be screened for lead as part of their standard immunization check before entering school.

"Everyone agrees that lead poisoning is going down. It's not the problem it was 20 years ago," said Vincent Marchand, policy director for the senator. "But it's still a problem in areas where the housing stock is old."

Testing kids for lead

County Public Health officials recommend that all children be tested for lead at age 1 and 2.

Kern County offers free lead testing for children at a number of clinics. For more information, call 868-0360.

Signs and symptoms

Most of the time, children who have lead poisoning show no symptoms but some might include:

• belly aches
• aggressiveness
• decreased appetite
• fatigue
• irritability
• difficulty concentrating
• headaches
• abdominal pain
• vomiting

Prevention steps

• If you live in a home built before 1978, have the dust tested for lead. Ask about the construction year of other homes where a child spends time (grandparents, baby sitters, etc.)

• Frequently wash children’s hands and toys. Household dust and dirt outside the home are potential sources of lead.

• Pregnant women and children should avoid being in housing built before 1978 that is undergoing renovation.

• Wet-mop floors, dust off table tops and other horizontal surfaces and wipe window panes every few weeks.

• Buy dishes, cookware and kitchen utensils that are labeled lead-free.

• Avoid letting children play on bare soil if possible, as it may have lead.

Other sources of lead

• imported, lead-glazed pottery or dishes

• Mexican candies

• Azarcon and Greta, home remedies common in Hispanic cultures that are given to teething babies who have upset stomachs, colic and constipation. The CDC says the powders can have a lead content as high as 90 percent.

• imported herbal or folk medicines from South Asia including Bala Goli, Kandu, Kohl and Pay-loo-ah

• recalled toys and toy jewelry

For more information

• View a list of recalled toys at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Web site: www.cpsc.gov

• Find more information on lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.

• Call the Kern County Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at 868-0360.