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

[Herman Greene]

Congratulations to Bruce!

 

  _____  

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of RICHARD HOWIE
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 8:36 AM
To: Order Ecumenical Community
Cc: Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Thanks to colleague Dr Bruce Lanphear: new CDC
recommendation

 

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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