Nanuet Families: Protect Your Kids from Lead Poisoning

Lead Poisoning Prevention Week runs through Oct. 25, and the Rockland County Health Department wants parents to be aware that the most common form of lead poisoning in children is from breathing lead-laced dust from paint sanding or by eating paint chips in old houses.

This year’s NLPPW theme, “Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future,” highlights the importance of testing your home, testing your child, and learning how to prevent lead poisoning’s serious healtt effects. During NLPPW children’s artwork, along with facts about lead poisoning, will be on display at the Allison Parris Building in New City.

“Lead poisoning is still a health threat to children but is 100% preventable. You can learn more about preventing lead poisoning at www.leadfreekids.org,” said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County Commissioner of Health.

Lead poisoning hurts the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Lead in a child’s body can slow down growth and development, damage hearing and speech, cause behavior problems, and make it hard for children to pay attention and learn. Some of these problems may never go away. In adults it can lead to sterility and mental dysfunction, among other problems.

Lead dust is often invisible and generated during remodeling or renovation, when old paint is scraped or sanded, but can be present at other times as well, settling on windowsills, floors and toys.

Even if surfaces appear in good condition, the opening and closing of doors and windows covered with a lead-based paint will generate lead dust.

Most children with lead poisoning do not look or feel sick until much later in the course of the illness. Nonetheless, damage may be occurring.

• Assume any home built before 1978 contains lead paint. Keep all painted surfaces in good condition. Renters living in homes built before 1978 should ask landlords to safely repair any peeling paint. If the landlord is not responsive, local building inspectors or town clerks may be able to assist.
• Take the proper precautions before repairing peeling paint or performing home renovations. Pregnant women, babies and children should avoid all peeling and chipped paint. Call the Health Department for information on how to paint and repair safely. Safe work practices for renovations are key to preventing contamination in a home. Hiring a certified contractor ensures that proper safety measures are followed.
• Avoid cooking, storing or serving food in leaded glass, crystal and pewter and painted china or pottery from Asia, Latin America or the Middle East.
• Individuals with jobs or hobbies with lead exposure, such as carpentry or hunting, should shower and change clothes and shoes before going home. Potentially contaminated clothes should be washed alone.
• Frequent washing of hands, face, toys, bottles and pacifiers is very important. A foundation of good nutrition and eating foods high in calcium, iron and vitamin C in particular, can limit the impact if lead is ingested or inhaled.

For more information about how to prevent lead poisoning, and how to work in a lead safe way when you make repairs or renovate an older home, call the Health Department’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at (845) 364-3839 or visit http://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/ programs-and-services/lead-poisoning-prevention-program/

Read a history of lead poisoning here.