To: mootaz@SLY.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU, ncaro@LUNCH.TRUST.CS.CMU.EDU
cc: bovik@SLY.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU, milnes@SLY.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Lead Inspection: easy, cheap
Date: Tue, 31 May 94 15:03:18 -0400
Message-ID: <3702.770410998@SLY.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Brian_Milnes@SLY.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU


 Mootaz, Nelson, and Bovik,

 Blood lead levels of as low as 9ug/deci-liter of blood have been
correlated with decreased performance in school and developmental
impairment in children. Higher levels such as 30ug/dl can produce
severe problems, including hypertension. 1/9 american children have
elevated lead levels. My children for example have levels ranging from
4ug/dl-7ug/dl which is considered good.

 The lead comes from three sources: house dust, water and external
environment dust (soil, ...). 

 While your baby is an infant, water is the risk. Your wife's doctor
probably ran her for blood lead, but if you are bottle feeding you
should run the water. I would anyway just to see. 

 The city of Pgh has little lead in the water due to high
mineralization, plus the city of Pgh will give you some bottles and an
experimental protocol that will let you test your kitchen tap/house
line/outside line. Many water companies will also do this for you.
Cost: $0, time 1 hour (you have to drop off the bottles).

 The biggest problem is dusting paint, and you should run your
environment before your baby crawls. Paint prior to 1979 (?) had lead
in it to kill mold, and as this dusts the toddlers get it on their
hands, and then it goes into the mouth. The department of housing and
urban development (HUD) codified standards for acceptable levels on
floor and windows (more window style paint had lead in it). 

 A local lab, Conti, will run the samples for about $16 giving you a
resolution about of 100ug/ft^2. Hud standards for floors are about
200ug/ft^2, but if you see anything on the 100ug/ft^2 test I would
abate. The test is simple as hell: one baby wipe goes into an plastic
bag as a control, wipe up (hard) a N ft^2 (N > 3 ft best) area with
another (after washing your hands with dish soap) and plunk it in
another envelope. I recommend the child's room, the floor that he will
be crawling on, some window sills he will reach, and the kitchen
floor.

 Send them to Conti with a check, they'll send you back a report
including the acceptable hud standards.  Cost: $16*5 = $90. Other labs
will do a much more expensive and accurate test for about $30/ sample.

 Easy, inexpensive and reassuring.

 If you get lead, discuss with your pediatrician how to run you child,
but if you do take him in to be run go to the Turtle Creek site of the
County's lead program. They do the best job with a finger stick, which
can be inaccurate but they get great results.  Infants and toddlers <
3 seem to not really be upset by the finger stick.

 They'll tell you how to abate (wash with TSP and paint).

 Dr. Needleman of U Pitt is the world expert on childhood lead
problems, and has recently been fully cleared of the ethics charges
against him. But I have heard nothing regarding his services.

 Brian Milnes