Lead Poisoning– By: Fallon G.
When you get lead poisoning this is what happens. Lead builds up in you body over a period of months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. Children under the age of six are more likely to get lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be deadly. Have you guys seen the commercial about the woman talking about lead based paint and how it can lead to brain damage? Well it is very important to listen to that because it is all true. Lead based paint and lead contaminated dust in older buildings are the most common sources of lead poisoning in children. Some other sources of lead poisoning can include contaminated air, water, soil, and some toys and cosmetics.
The use of lead based paint for homes, children’s toys and household furniture has been banned in the United States since 1978. But lead based paint is still on walls and woodwork in many older homes and apartments. Most lead poisoning in children results in eating lead based paint chips, glazes found on ceramics, china and porcelain can also contain lead that leaks into food. Lead may be found in toys and other produced outside the United States.
As I said before, babies and children under six years of age are more likely to be exposed to lead than older children. They may chew paint chips and their hands may be contaminated with lead dust. Young children also absorb lead more easily and sustain more harm from it than adults and older children. Health effects can include anemia, decreased muscle and bone growth, hearing damage and learning disabilities, nervous system and kidney damage, poor muscle coordination as well as speech, language and behavior problems.
Discussion questions:
1) What do you think is the worst health effect from lead poisoning?
2) Why is it more important to protect younger children from lead poisoning?
For more info, check out this website:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lead-poisoning/FL00068/DSECTION=complications
Jpiniat's Earth Science Blog 
Very interesting article, Fallon. The risks of lead poisoning has been in the news a lot lately. Many toys that were made in other countries contain high levels of lead. It is very important to stay informed about these kinds of things so that those who are at risk of playing with these dangerous toys remain safe. Does anyone have any ideas of ways to protect young children from getting lead poisoning at home?
-Mr. Piniat
jpiniat said this on October 9, 2009 at 5:26 pm
wow i didn’t know it was that bad.
Julian K said this on October 16, 2009 at 12:50 am
I think any health effect is bad. If you know not to be using lead based paint why would you still use it? Many new products have high levels of lead now and have been on the news latley. Its more important to protect your younger children because they are most likly to get it. They are the people who may chew on lead or anything that contains it.
Bethany Period 3 said this on October 16, 2009 at 1:00 am
Fallon this was so well done. I never knew that even small amounts of lead posining could mean so much. This was very informational.
Paige C said this on October 16, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I think that it is more important to protect the younger children from lead poisoning because they are smaller and weaker so it is easier for them to get it. Also because the article said that lead poisoning is found in toys that children play in like paint. Good article!
Melody W. said this on October 19, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I liked the article about lead posioning and how it can hurt someones body. It was really nice. I didnt know it was that bad till i read this. Also i love the pitcture she is so cute.
1. i think it is because lead posioning can make you really ill and even kill you
2.we need to portect espically little kids becuase they dont know how it can hurt you. They are just so little so we as kids and adults have to watch out for little kids like 4 or youger
Taylor period 7 said this on October 19, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Betheny-people don’t use it anymore, but a lot is still left over
Fallon G said this on October 20, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I knew that lead poisoning was deadly but i didnt know it affected that many people.
Samantha B. said this on October 24, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I had no idea that lead poisoning was such a threat to people and especially children. Anyway, I think that all of the health effects are bad but one of the worst ones is learning disabilities. I think that because if a kid got lead poisoning and they were a very smart student their life could be easily ruined. They would never go to college or get a job. Also, I think it is important to protect younger kids from being exposed to lead poisoning because they are the people who are most likely to stick it in their mouth. Completely clueless of what they had done. Lastly, a way to try to prevent young kids from getting led poisoning at home is to inspect any old artifacts in your home that might have been there before a law came out that banned lead based paint. I think the article was really good. I learned a lot!!!!
Olivia T. said this on October 27, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I thought people didnt use lead any more and tat makes me very scared because i went into an old house.
Mariel w said this on October 28, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Fallon, very interesting article. I learned a lot from it. I think that if more toys were made in the United States there would be less danger of kids getting lead poisoning since we know that this could happen we would not use lead in the paint on toys. Very nice job
Zach C said this on November 3, 2009 at 12:42 am
Lead poisoning didnt come across as such a threat to me. I had no idea that it was such a serious matter. I have heard bad stories of it here and there but this article really opened my eyes about this.
Maddy B. said this on November 3, 2009 at 10:43 pm
i never new that lead poising could be that harmful, i never really payed that much attention to that commercial, until now!
Hannah S. said this on November 6, 2009 at 3:34 am
I never knew lead poisoning was so dangerous! I think the worst health affect is that lead poisoning can cause death because if you die that is worse then any health problem you can have. It is more important to protect our young ones because they are the ones that are most exposed to lead products, because lead is in toys and paint. I thought this article was very insightful so great job Fallon!
Paige C said this on November 29, 2009 at 2:55 am
Lead poisoning is a dangerous thing. I knew this before i read this article, but what I didn’t know was that it could actually severely hurt or kill people. Especially small children. I always thought that lead poisoning would give you a really bad fever and make you vomit a lot, but now I know. Also, in the summer a few years back there was a lead poison scare from the dolls in China. The dolls contained lead in the paint. Parents everywhere where freaking out. I thought it was no big deal, but now I know why people were afraid. This article really tells you to be careful… and not put old things in your mouth!
Sarah B. said this on November 29, 2009 at 10:26 pm
i didnt know it affected that many people. Also, I didn’t know a small piece of lead could lead up to so much like death.
Madison D said this on December 7, 2009 at 9:32 pm
I learned alot from this article. I never knew that people could die from just lead… I didn’t even know lead was dangerous.Good job
Madison D said this on December 11, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Good Job, Fallon!! I didn’t think that lead poisoning could be so deadly!!! I think all of the health effects are very bad, but I think the worst health effect is nerve system and kidney damage because that is very life threatening. Protecting younger children is probably a bigger concern because they are very curious and might bite something that is lead based while they are playing!
Erin O. Period 6 said this on December 15, 2009 at 1:41 am
Your post seems to be really popular Fallon! I am currently in the process of painting the entire inside of my house so reading articles like this really helps to inform people about what to look out for. Luckily, the paint I purchased does not have any lead in it due to the ban on lead based paint in 1978 like you mentioned in your post. If it did, I would have had to take extra precautions to keep my little nephew away from the walls to keep him safe.
jpiniat said this on December 15, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Wow Fallon! I really like your artical because it is very informative. I learned a lot. Thanks for the awareness.
P.S. You have a lot of comments on your blog:)
Sarika M. said this on January 27, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Thanks for commenting, Sarika. What do you think of the comments of your classmates? You can comment on their work too =)
jpiniat said this on January 28, 2010 at 10:58 am
Please sign our petition to fix the lead poisoning prevention program in Detroit & keep up the great work in your community.
Spirit of Detroit said this on August 11, 2010 at 7:38 am