The tragedy in Flint, Michigan is drawing public attention to the serious but under-recognized risk of lead exposure from tap water. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention warn there is no safe level of lead for humans, older homes in older cities are particularly at risk, and newer homes could be as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not set strong rules for lead in tap water pipes and faucets until 2011.
According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, lead continues to contaminate the blood of nearly every child tested and at current levels of exposure is linked to the loss of 23 million total IQ points among children under five. Babies and pregnant women are especially impacted by lead and other “brain drain” toxic chemicals during the first 1,000 days when a baby’s tiny brains are forming and growing rapidly.
Healthy Babies Bright Futures is an alliance of non-profit organizations, philanthropies and scientists that designs and implements projects to reduce babies’ exposure to toxic chemicals during the most vulnerable and significant periods of development: in utero and from birth to age two. The organization has teamed up with Dr. Marc Edwards, the scientist who helped identify and expose unsafe lead levels in Flint, Michigan, and his Virginia Tech laboratory to help identify and provide a low cost drinking water testing method for at risk families.
Keep Families Safe From Lead
Charlotte Brody, RN, Executive Director of the non-profit, Healthy Babies Bright Futures joined me to discuss more details about the new home testing method. She also shared the importance of testing water on a regular basis – particularly for those in low-income neighborhoods and in older homes where the exposure risks from drinking water is highest.
Keep Families Safe From Lead
Take a look at our chat below.
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For more information, visit: www.hbbf.org.
Keep Families Safe From Lead
