Partnerships Contact Us Lead poisoning is a major environmental health threat to children in the United States. Lead poisoning is entirely preventable. However, nearly 1 million children living in the United States have lead levels in their blood that are high enough to cause irreversible damage to their health.
Few children become lead poisoned by eating paint chips or chewing on painted surfaces.
Typically, children are poisoned by exposure to lead-contaminated household dust. They become poisoned by doing what children normally do, putting their hands and toys in their mouths, and eating lead-contaminated dust in the process. Lead contamination in the home comes primarily from old lead-based paint that is deteriorating, or rubbed off friction surfaces such as windows and doors. Children also face lead exposure from exterior lead-based paint as it breaks down and contaminates dust and soil as well as from lead residue from industrial sources and leaded gasoline. Contaminated soil can be blown in or tracked in from outside the home.