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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Lead Exposure Safety Guidelines for Children

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Thursday, August 9, 2012   

BALTIMORE - More Maryland children could be at risk from lead poisoning.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently cut in half the level of lead exposure deemed to be a health risk. In the meantime, Congress allocated only $2 million for lead-poisoning prevention this year, compared with $29 million the year before.

That leaves very few staff members to get the word out about the change. It also means, says toxicologist Dr. Jennifer Lowry, that it's now up to parents and pediatricians to become more proactive.

"The CDC recommends that lead testing occur at the age of one year and at two years and, actually, annually up until the age of six years."

Lowry suggests that doctors go to the CDC website and make themselves aware of the new guidelines. She also recommends that parents talk to their pediatricians about testing.

Sources of lead include toys, children's jewelry, and paint chips from old homes.

Parents need to get rid of old paint chips in homes built before 1978, Lowry says, adding that keeping floors and toys clean is especially important. She adds that houses with older exterior paint can contaminate nearby soil in play areas or gardens.

"If there's peeling paint chips out in the soil from the home, it gets into the soil and the lead can get there. Usually, it concentrates around the first feet around the home."

Some soil also has been contaminated from old leaded gasoline. That can happen in homes near highways or farms, or around old mines, mills and factory sites.

More information is online at cdc.gov/nceh/lead. Search for lead recalls at cpsc.gov.


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