NSW: Sydney children at risk of lead poisoning
SYDNEY, April 18 AAP - Exposure to lead is causing significant intellectual impairmentto children at levels the Australian government has declared safe, it was reported today.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a five-year study published in The New EnglandJournal of Medicine has found that IQ impairment is most pronounced at lower, rather thanhigher, lead concentrations.
The study, by Cornell University researchers in New York State, concluded that farmore children than previously estimated may be adversely affected by lead in the environment,the Herald said.
Sydney doctor Ben Balzer believes the city would be "declared a lead poisoning disasterarea" if it were transferred to the US, due to the rates of lead in children's blood.
The Australian government considers 10 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood (mcg/dl)- about 100 parts per billion - to be a safe level.
Australia's only national lead poisoning survey, in 1996, found that 25 per cent ofSydney children aged under five had lead levels in their blood that exceeded 10 mcg/dl,the Herald said.
The major source of lead in the environment is paint dust from pre-1970s houses.
AAP rh/ldj
KEYWORD: POISON
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