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The decision to treat is an individual one based on a review of the potential benefits and risks. Discuss any lead concerns with your healthcare provider or your child's practitioner. Contact your local health department to have your paint tested for lead.
Children often develop lead poisoning as a result of hand to mouth ingestion. The most dangerous source of lead for children, especially, is lead-based paint, which was often used in homes prior to the 1970s. The Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both offer guidance on how to avoid common sources of lead. Before then, lead paint was used inside and outside houses.
Where is lead found?
If the answer is yes, they'll send someone to your home to retrieve samples for testing for no expense. Dispose of all used test materials using the included waste bag. Gather up your used sanitizing swab, chip catcher tray, and vial of test solution and place them inside the plastic waste disposal bag that came with your testing kit.
Take a fresh sample from one of your faucets first thing in the morning. To guarantee clear, accurate results, it's essential that you collect water that's been stagnant inside your home's pipes for at least 6 hours . Fill the sample container to the indicated fill line and leave it uncovered.
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If one or more of your children has high blood lead levels, your doctor may call your local health department. Persons from the health department can help by inspecting your home for possible lead exposures and will work with you to reduce the sources. Because of this, most pediatricians will routinely screen young children and infants for possible exposure to lead as part of their general checkups. If the answer is yes or you aren't sure to any of the questions, your healthcare provider will likely want to do more testing to check for elevated blood levels.
You can purchase 3M Lead Check Swabs online and at some hardware stores and home improvement centers. A single package contains enough single-use swabs for multiple tests. It's necessary to re-test light-colored solutions because adding Solution 2 to the test solution can sometimes introduce a slight yellow hue. Remove a paint chip from an out-of-the-way part of your testing surface.
Self-Checks/At-Home Testing
Transfer your fresh paint sample to a pre-filled vial of Solution 1. Use the chip catcher tray as a funnel to ensure that the paint chip doesn't come into contact with any other surfaces before it goes into the solution. Add the entire sample to the vial, even if it happens to break into smaller pieces.
Keep reading to learn about lead and what to do if you encounter it. Most at-home lead testing kits are designed to change colors when lead is detected. If you're color blind, this may make it difficult to verify the results.
Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. If you rent your home, talk to your landlord about peeling and flaking paint. Call the health department if the paint isn’t safely repaired.
For individuals with high or chronic past exposure, however, BLLs often under-represent the total body burden because most lead is stored in the bone. Individuals can therefore have high body burden of lead with “normal” levels in the blood. All immigrant, refugee, and internationally-adopted children when they arrive in the United States , due to their increased risk, as they may have been exposed to lead in their country of origin. Evidence continues to accrue that commonly encountered blood lead concentrations, even those below 5 μg/dL , impair cognition . There is no identified threshold or safe level of lead in blood . If you live in a large city where water quality is an issue, it may also be possible to order an at-home testing kit from your local water supplier or municipal authority free of charge.
Make sure you properly secure the twist-on cap before you begin shaking. After 10 seconds, set the vial aside and allow it to sit for at least 2 minutes. This will give the solution time to completely permeate the paint sample.
Lead can affect almost all your child’s organs and symptoms. It can cause long-term health, behavioral and learning effects. Lead is most commonly found in homes that were built before 1978.
Lead poisoning is when any detectable amount of lead is found in your child’s blood. If you plan to repaint or remodel your home, hire a State-certified lead contractor. Most water samples tested will contain below the legal limit of lead providing reassurance that no further action is required. You may be advised to stop drinking your tap water until investigation of the source of the lead is completed and remedial measures are taken. The good news is that childhood lead exposure is preventable.
Shake the solution a second time if it's lighter than the test standard. If the solution turns a pale yellow color, it may mean that the solution hasn't had enough time to break down the paint sample. Keep children away from peeling paint or chewable surfaces painted with lead-based paint. You may want to hire a professional who can locate and abate lead contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency offers a service to help you locate Certified Renovation and Lead Dust Sampling Technician Firms, which can help you remove your problem.
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