There is really no safe level of lead in a child’s blood. Very young children, between ages 1 and 2, are particularly vulnerable, even at low levels. Primary prevention strategies that eliminate these sources are still the best way to prevent exposure to lead. Yet the US has a patchwork of blood lead screening policies is inadequate and likely misses a significant number of children with elevated lead levels during the critical window when intervention could prevent long-term damage. Why is this so? Why don’t we have better, universal lead screening policies? What’s can we do to help resolve this long-standing and critical public health issue? Show host and Earth Island Journal [1] editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra, discusses these questions with Dale Hagen, Housing Services Manager with Alameda Country’s Healthy Homes Department [2], and Dr Howard Milke, director of the Lead Lab Project [3] and one of this country’s leading lead researchers whose work helped phase out lead from gasoline in the 1970s and ‘80s.

[1] http://www.earthisland.org/journal/

[2] http://www.achhd.org/index.htm

[3] https://plus.google.com/102811471396098140243/posts