Lead In Paints Affects Children More

Children are exposed to lead when painted surfaces deteriorate over time and break down to paint dust to contaminate the environment. Children ages 0-6 engaging in normal hand-to-mouth behaviours are most at risk of damage to their intelligence and mental development from exposure to lead dust and lead in the soil.

The health impacts of lead exposure on young children’s brains are lifelong, irreversible and untreatable. Lead is also introduced into the gastrointestinal tract when children chew on objects such as toys, household furniture or other articles painted with paints that contain lead.

Children’s nervous systems are undergoing rapid change and are particularly susceptible to permanent damage. A child breathes and consumes more food and air in relation to their size when compared to an adult. Because of this, the amount of lead that a child breathes in or swallows is proportionally greater than for an adult.

In addition to that, up to 60% of lead swallowed by children moves directly into the bloodstream and from organ to organ. Adults on the other hand retain only around 10%. Lead also stays in red blood cells much longer in children than in adults.

Continued use of lead in paint is a primary source of childhood lead exposure. Urgent measures need to be taken to reduce critical sources of lead exposure to young children.

The World Health Organization (WHO) calls lead paint “a major flashpoint” for children’s potential lead poisoning and says that “since the phase-out of leaded petrol, lead paint is one of the largest sources of exposure to lead in children”.

UN Environment Programme
World Health Organization (WHO)
IPEN: for a toxics-free future

For more info on “Lead and Your Ill Health”, get the guide here