If your home is a old home, then you should be careful of lead poisoning in your children. Why? Lead is a heavy metal that is found naturally in the Earth’s crust. It has historically been used in a number of household products. The most common cause of lead poisoning today is old paint with lead in it. Lead has not been used in house paint since 1978. However, many older houses and apartment buildings have lead-based paint on their walls.

There are more than four percent of children in the United States have lead poisoning. Rates of lead poisoning are higher in large cities and among people with low incomes.

So, in what ways are children exposed to lead? Well, toddlers explore their world by putting things in their mouths. Therefore, young children who live in older buildings are at especially high risk of getting lead poisoning. Children can get lead poisoning by chewing on pieces of peeling paint or by swallowing house dust or soil that contains tiny chips of the leaded paint from these buildings.

That is not all. Lead can also be in air, water and food. Lead levels in the air have gone down greatly since lead was taken out of gasoline in the 1970s. Lead is still found in some old water pipes, although using lead solder to mend or put together water pipes is no longer allowed in the United States. Lead can also be found in food or juice stored in foreign-made cans or improperly fired ceramic containers. So, be careful and protect your child from lead poisoning.