May 23, 2014 | Michigan State University Extension
If you took high school chemistry, you likely learned about the periodic table, a table that listed all chemical elements found in nature, including lead. What you probably didn’t learn in that class was how poisonous lead can be to humans and other animals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are 24 million homes in the United States today where residents are being exposed to high levels of lead.
Four million of those households contain young children. Because of their tendency to put their hands and other objects into their mouths, children under 6 years old are considered to be the age group at highest risk. The CDC estimates half a million U.S. children ages 1-5 have blood lead levels above the recommended maximum of 5 microgram per deciliter. [...]