Risk factors appear to be proximity to high traffic corridors, to highways built prior to 1980, and to housing built before 1950. Older homes undergoing extensive remodeling pose a higher risk of exposure to lead. Symptoms of lead poisoning include fatigue, irritability, mylagia, lethargy, and occasional abdominal discomfort. The ubiquitous distribution of lead in population centers and its physical stability continue to result in exposure to the population. Young children show a greater prevalence of iron deficiency, a condition that can increase gastronintersinal absorption of lead.
Children can also absorb and retain more on lead in proportion to their body weight.
Children between 12 and 36 months are at particular risk because they explore the world, and its contaminated soil, with their hands and mouth. The Blood Lead Monitoring Program is conducted by the University's Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology through a cooperative agreement with the Jefferson County Division of Environmental Health. The program was originally established by Drs. William M., Pierce, Jr. and George C. Rogers, Jr. , through support by the WHAS Crusade for children. King Visits CSUN Martin Luther King III, President of the Southern Christian leadership Conference, met with the Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods and its partners, to share ideas on how to build viable inner city neighborhoods.