Lead Exposure

The current

“safe” level of lead exposure, endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, is not actually safe, according to a study recently published in the

New England Journal of Medicine. The study found that any level of blood lead concentration negatively affects children’s IQ. What’s more, contamination levels in the previously assumed “safe” range affect IQ at a more severe rate than those in the acknowledged danger zone. The full report is available at

www.nejm.org.