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Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine logoLink to Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
. 2002 Dec 1;79(4):491–501. doi: 10.1093/jurban/79.4.491

Childhood lead poisoning from paint chips: a continuing problem

Mark Su 1,2,✉, Fermin Barrueto Jr 3,2, Robert S Hoffman 3,2
PMCID: PMC3456721  PMID: 12468669

Abstract

Although lead poisoning (plumbism) has been recognized for centuries, lead exposures still occur frequently today because of its varied uses and persistence in the environment. Despite the awareness of the adverse effects of lead on adults, childhood plumbism was first reported only about a century ago. Young children are one of the most vulnerable groups to the adverse effects of lead because of their rapidly developing vulnerable groups to the adverse effects of lead because of their rapidly developing central nervous systems. Federal regulations in the 1970s have been successfully implemented to decrease the amount of environmental lead by decreasing the content of lead in gasoline and indoor paint. However, almost 30 years after these laws were passed, inner-city housing with leaded paint still exists. We describe three children living in New York City who developed plumbism from the ingestion of leaded paint chips.

Keywords: Public Health, Adverse Effect, Nervous System, Central Nervous System, Young Child

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