Levels of lead in Kansas kids’ blood prompt study

Flint, Mich., renewed the nation’s attention to lead hazards, but the problem is widespread.

Right now, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is investigating after 32 children were found with high lead levels in their blood in Saline County. Officials say they don’t yet know the source of the problem – whether its water, soil, paint, dust or something else.

In Sedgwick County, 16 children have tested positive for elevated blood lead levels since January. The county health department says it has not found sources of common exposure for those cases.

Lead is a naturally occurring element, but it can be toxic to humans. The effects – especially for children – are severe and permanent.

“By doing the investigations (of blood lead), we are increasing the IQ of Sedgwick County because high lead levels decreases IQ in kids,” said Christine Steward, health protection director for the Sedgwick County Health Department.

Sedgwick County started tracking lead levels in 2013 because the state previously tracked them with a different method. The counting measures have changed over the years and come with many stipulations.

But Steward said most cases occur among children ages 5 or younger, which is also the most commonly tested age group.

She said it’s important to test children early because they won’t show symptoms.

“It can affect not only low-income areas, but all areas and income brackets,” Steward said.

Few products are now made with lead because of changes to levels allowed in things like paint, gasoline, canned foods, cosmetics and plumbing to name a few. Lead paint was outlawed in 1978.

But people are still widely exposed to lead. It’s still found in some industrial facilities, old lead-based paint, soil, dust, batteries and ammunition.

The majority of lead exposure comes from dust linked to lead paint, according to a study from the Journal of Pediatrics.

Drinking water can also be contaminated with lead in lead pipes.

The city of Wichita has been working for more than 10 years to replace nearly 1,500 lead service pipes with plastic or copper ones. The city plans to have all replaced by this fall.

But those don’t account for pipes on personal property. Many older homes still contain lead water pipes and faucets, and those replacements are the homeowner’s responsibility.

One way to reduce lead in drinking water is to let the water run through the faucet for a few seconds before drinking it, said Joseph Pajor, director of city public works and utilities.

He said lead corrodes from pipes into drinking water when it sits still in the plumbing. A quick flush will help decrease the lead content, he said.

Salina investigation

In Saline County, 32 children ages 16 and younger were diagnosed with high blood lead levels between January 2015 and March of this year. The Saline County Health Department tested more than 300 children and adults in the county considered to have a lead exposure risk. The results of those tests won’t be processed for a couple of more weeks.

The state is leading an investigation into the county’s confirmed cases.

Cassie Sparks, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the state will interview the families of children with elevated blood lead levels in July.

She said the investigation will include sampling water, soil, paint and other surfaces in each family’s home, along with places frequently visited by the children that could contain lead, such as day care centers or relatives’ homes.

After the interviews, Sparks said, the state will give each family individualized reports that detail the lead sources in their home or community. The state hopes to complete a larger report for the public by the end of August or September.

Effects on intelligence

Bruce Lanphaer, a professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada who specializes in researching lead toxicity in children, discusses lead’s effects on IQ scores in a Youtube video titled “Little Things Matter: The Impact of Toxins on the Developing Brain.”

He said a person’s IQ drops about 6 points as a person’s blood lead level increases between between zero and 100 parts per billion. IQ drops 2 additional points between 100 and 200 parts per billion, and another point up to 300 parts per billion.

“While for an individual child, the effects may be subtle,” he said in the film, “on a population, they can be quite dramatic. … Little shifts in children’s IQ scores have a big impact on the number of children who are challenged or gifted.”

And Lamphaer says the impacts of lead are permanent.

“Children who are more heavily exposed to toxins (lead) won’t reach the same peak cognitive ability as those who have lower exposures,” he said.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Levels of lead in Kansas kids’ blood prompt study."