Many eyes are now focused on Flint, Mich., where government failures have resulted in elevated lead levels in the city’s drinking water. But the effects on Flint’s residents, particularly its children, may not show up until long after the cameras have left town.
Lead intoxication or poisoning is somewhat of a misnomer. The levels of lead in the water in Flint in the last year or so will probably not lead to many seizures, hospitalizations or medical events. But doctors still become alarmed when lead levels in the blood reach 5 micrograms per deciliter, or µg/dL.
The percentage of children under age 5 in Flint with lead levels that high has been estimated to have doubled, from 2.4 percent to 4.9 percent, according to recently published work in the American Journal of Public Health. In the areas with the highest levels of lead, more than 10 percent of children have now had a blood lead level at least that high.
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