Fighting Lead Poisoning: Online Resources
You may have to do more than just clean out your child's toy chest to make sure that they're safe from lead poisoning -- there may be lead in corners of your home that your always thought were uncontaminated. As The Early Show Anchor Moms are learning, you can never be too safe. They've put together this list of online resources that can help you gain a broader understanding of lead poisoning.
www.nsc.org/library/facts/lead.htm: A basic fact sheet from the National Safety Council. They have a second page, www.nsc.org/issues/lead/ that links to articles and helpful Web sites. It also has a place where you can order a lead dust kit to determine if there is lead in the walls or floors of your house.
www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/lead-poisoning-topic-overview -- A helpful overview on the medical aspects of lead poisoning, including links to specific articles and other resources.
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002473.htm -- Another site that offers broad, but helpful, information from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
kids.niehs.nih.gov/lead.htm -- Information from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the NIH, this site is geared towards the needs of children. It's worth taking a look at their diagram of where lead might be hiding in your home: kids.niehs.nih.gov/leadhouse.htm
www.mayoclinic.com/health/lead-poisoning/FL00068/DSECTION=1 -- A very complete guide to lead poisoning: how to recognize, prevent it and treat it. Includes practical information about what to expect if your child requires hospitalization.
www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead -- This is the homepage for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, aimed at eliminating elevated blood lead levels in children by the year 2010.
www.cpsc.gov -- Homepage for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Council; there are links to lists of recalled products, including toys.
And this from our colleague, National Correspondent Tracy Smith (here's a
she did on having her own home tested for lead) -- she reports that www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/nllaplist.pdf is a list (compiled monthly) of EPA-accredited labs that you can send a dust swab test to; call first to make sure you'll do the test according to the lab's specifications.Another Web site she found informative: The Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, www.leadsafe.org