[Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Thanks to colleague Dr Bruce Lanphear: new CDC recommendation

[RICHARD HOWIE]

Ah, JOY!  The work of the fathers and mothers can be helpful to  
generations to come.
Grace and Peace, Ellen
On Jan 26, 2012, at 6:11 PM, Ellie Stock wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> In 2000 I became part of a presbytery PC(USA) partnership with Peru  
> related to hunger issues.  One focus was addressing lead and other  
> heavy metal contamination in La Oroya, Peru and also here in the St  
> Louis region (Herculaneum) caused by the same US-owned company.   
> From time to time the partnership has been helped by the research  
> of colleague Dr. Bruce Lanphear who specializes in lead and other  
> toxins as they relate to health issues, particularly related to  
> children.
>
> I wanted to share a bit of good news I received yesterday in an  
> email from Perry Gottesfeld (OK International) who is a member of a  
> scientific advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control  
> (CDC) that has made a formal recommendaton on childhood lead  
> poisoning prevention that changes a policy that has been in effect  
> in the U.S. since 1991 and is commonly used in other countries  
> based on the same World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation  
> and cut-off.  Previously, World Health Organization and EPA and CDC  
> and other groups used the standard that only a blood lead level  
> over 10 ug/dl was a "level of concern."  Most medical laboratories  
> around the world have adopted this level as the "normal" or  
> "acceptable" cut-off listed on blood test reports going to  
> physicians and hospitals.  The new recommendations eliminate the  
> use of the term "level of concern" and acknowledge that based on a  
> comprehensive review of the scientific literature, there is no  
> known safe level of exposure to children.  The new guidance calls  
> for specific response actions for children with blood lead levels  
> in the upper 2.5% of the population feometric mean (currently 5 ub/ 
> dl in the U.S.)  These lower levels currently impact approximately  
> 450,000 children in the U.S. but millions more in developing  
> countries.  [Many children in La Oroya, Peru have blood lead levels  
> as high as 30-60 ug/dl and would be hospitalized if they lived in  
> the U.S.]
>
> As early as 2001 (and probably earlier) colleague Dr. Bruce  
> Lanphear (formerly at Children's Hospital in Cincinnati and now a  
> professor in Vancouver) was writing that there were "no safe blood  
> lead levels and that blood lead levels as low as 1 ug/dl were  
> harmful, especially for children and pregnant women.  The results  
> of tests indicating this were published in 2003 in the New England  
> Journal of Medicine.  Bruce has been on many advisory boards  
> related to toxins and health.  His work (along with a few other  
> prophets in the wilderness) contributed to this latest CDC  
> recommendation (despite years of opposition by government agencies  
> and contaminating corporate entities).
>
> Lead contamination continues to be a major environmental issue not  
> only in the US (lead paint, lead smeltering) but also in developing  
> countries (where lead is mined and smelted, where leaded gasoline  
> is still the norm) and growing industrial nations (like China,  
> where many of our lead batteries for computers, cars, toys, etc.  
> are produced).   Standards such as this not only help to improve  
> the health of people in the US but also act as leverage for global  
> health standards.
>
> So, thank you to you Bruce and your colleagues for your past work  
> and continuing work which has had a much broader impact.  Its a joy  
> to see such research translate into policy.
>
> Aren't you proud, Nancy?
>
> Ellie Stock
> elliestock at aol.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
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