The debate among researchers in the United States regarding whether or not small doses of lead actually lower the IQ of children is essentially over. A New England Journal of Medicine article published October 29, 1992, outlined a comparative research project in Australia which substantiates the earlier research on children and intelligence damage from small-dose lead exposure. Public concern and regulation will now surely follow.

The Journal article accompanied an editorial by Dr. Katherine Mahaffery of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, which made it clear that the position of the medical community now is that minimal lead exposure diminishes intellect in all racial and social groups. Dr. Mahafery wrote:

"Childhood exposure to lead is preventable.
. . . and the research serves to . . . emphasize
intellectual costs of not preventing it."

Lead is measured in micrograms per deciliter in blood. A microgram is one-millionth of a gram; deciliter is one-tenth of a liter. The Australian research involved 500 children and found that there is a correlation between lead levels over 25 micrograms per deciliter and measurable intellectual dysfunction. That agrees with American research showing that children exposed to lead early in life had trouble reading and many did not finish high school. There are presently three to four million children in the United States carrying the trigger threshold of lead. Major sources of low-level contamination are daycare facilities, schools and homes.

Three procedures will be important for school districts:

1. Those activities in schools, particularly in areas of science and fine arts, which may involve exposure to lead-bearing products must be identified and eliminated, or personal protection must be provided for students and instructors.
   
2. Those building products in schools which may contain lead must be identified and dealt with, this would include lead dust introduced into the ambient air, peeling paint in elementary schools, lead in water, and lead in soil in playground areas. Inspections and testing must occur; and if lead levels are identified, engineering controls must be implemented. (This does not mean automatic removal or abatement of lead-bearing paint.)
   
3. Curricula on the risks of heavy metals and consequent harm should be institutionalized in schools the same way as other prevention programs. All graduating students in America should understand that if, in the future, they exposure their children to lead in their homes, they may be doing irreparable damage to those children.