What you need to know about lead exposure in children

A recent outbreak of lead poisoning from cinnamon in applesauce has drawn attention to the toxic effect the heavy metal can have on children. It was believed that the cinnamon in the applesauce was deliberately contaminated, possibly to increase its value as a commodity sold by weight. It contained unusually high levels of lead.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 400 children were poisoned during the applesauce outbreak. Their average blood lead levels were six times higher than the average seen during diabetes height of the Flint water crisis, according to the CDC.

Although such poisoning cases are rare, lead is a widespread contaminant and is receiving increasing attention. Here’s what you need to know.

How are children exposed to lead?

Paint is one of the most common and well-known sources of lead. Children can also be exposed through drinking water flowing through old lead pipes.

Lead poisoning from food is less common, but does occur. Lead can end up in food in small amounts when plants remove it from the soil. For example, a study on baby food found that sweet potatoes contained one of the highest levels of lead among the products tested.

A lead based one pigment is sometimes illegally added to spices to bulk them up or make their color stand out. The Food and Drug Administration suspects the additive caused last year’s applesauce contamination.

How did the applesauce become contaminated?

The FDA, relying on researchers in Ecuador, said a spice mill there likely added the pigment, lead chromate powder, to cinnamon before mixing it with the applesauce.

An investigation by The New York Times and the nonprofit health journalism organization The Examination found that the cinnamon and tainted applesauce then slipped past every checkpoint designed to safeguard America’s food supply. Ecuadorian food processor Austrofood was not required to test for toxic metals and did not do so, the data shows.

International inspections by the FDA have not yet come close to meeting a goal set in a landmark 2011 food safety law. The agency is conducting half as many random food checks at the border as it did a decade ago. Food importers, who have to check foreign food, allow the applesauce to enter the country.

How do I know if my children have high blood lead levels?

Lead exposure can go unnoticed until levels build up, doctors say. High lead levels can lead to stomach pain, vomiting, fatigue, learning problems, developmental delays and even seizures.

Pediatricians recommend blood tests for babies and toddlers living in the home built before 1978 or have other risk factors. Medicaid programs and some states require screening, but this is generally not advised for children over age 3.

Although officials have said there is no safe level of lead, parents should not automatically worry if traces of lead show up in a child’s blood test. The average blood lead level among young American children is less than 1 microgram per deciliter of blood. “I don’t think they have anything to worry about at all,” said Kim Dietrich, professor emeritus of epidemiology and environmental health at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Studies showing IQ score deficits and links to ADHD tend to focus on children with levels 5 and above. According to the CDC, approximately 95 percent of children in the United States have lead levels of less than 3.5 micrograms per deciliter of blood.

Some experts have even begun to question the CDC’s position that there is “no safe level” of lead, given its ubiquitous nature and the small effects low levels have had on millions of children in the United States.

How can I protect my children from the dangers of lead?

Parents can rest assured that their children are getting a healthy diet rich in calcium and iron, minerals that are absorbed through the same routes as lead, said Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, chair of research at Columbia University Department of Environmental Health Sciences.

She said another good strategy is to give young children a wide variety of foods, an approach that can limit the harm of consuming too much of a contaminated product. If children are exposed to exposures that affect their development, Dr. Navas-Acien says, parents can counteract some of the effects by keeping children in a stimulating educational environment and talking, reading and playing with them.

What is the government doing to protect children?

The Biden administration has done that billions of dollars invested to upgrade old lead water pipes and homes.

The FDA says it is investigating the applesauce poisoning to determine whether the agency should make any changes. So far, officials have said little about the failure of thousands of food importing companies to launch programs to vet foreign foods.

The FDA also says it wants to move forward with its ‘Closer to Zero’ initiative, asking Congress for the authority to set lead limits in foods marketed to infants and toddlers and to require companies to perform tests. A group 20 attorneys general have called on the FDA to use its existing authority to take this step.