Document DGe40kMEraGnynO7rY0643KdM

Preventing Lead Poisoning LETTER: How ignorant can one be? Two of my children were being poisoned daily right before my otfn eyes and 1 didn't suspetk it. My young daughter) began com plaining oi stomach cramps when school started. I thought it was an ex cuse for not wanting toio to school. I kept sending her anyway. One day the teacher sent her home because she was in such pain. I Doctor , Soys Dr. Peter Steincrohn My young son also bad occasional cramps but Ms main complaint was feeling tired nil the time. He wouldn't go out and play with his friends after school. He lost appetite, became Skinny and suffered from con stipation. At last my husband and I decided it was time to get medical help. We took both t them to our pediatrician. He look some blood tests end immedi ately made a diagnosis oi lead poison ing. He Is going to prescribe some spe cial medicine to help get the lead out of tbeir systems. Meanwhile, I am writing to alert other parents whose children might be suffering from chronic lead poisoning. lead, so the main danger is from old paint. Adults can get plumb sm, too. For example, workers In ir iustries that manufacture products e Paining lead may suffer from it b. continually breathing In air that ontains lead dust, or eating food that os been con taminated by lead dust.) The first order of treatment, of course. Is discovery tjf the source. Once diagnosed, the excess lead from the body is eliminated by prescribing such medications as the abbreviated: EDTA and BAL. ft is important to make the diagnos is early and not wait for a bluish line to form in the gums, in severe cases, lead poisoning may cause convulsions and unconsciousness.. For Mrs. T. With yourson's history ot so many injections why not ask his doctor is be should be nllowed In continue swiIimmlng as much as he does? Perhaps, uiftil infections are under more control? he should not go swim ming for a while, According to one re cent report, {`Swimmers run a risk of ear infection that is about five times as great as that of nonswimmers." Once chronic anxiety takes hold. It often refusal to loosen its grip without a light, says Dr. Steincrohn In Ms booklet, "What To Do For Chronic Anxiety." For a copy send SO cents and a stamped, seli-addrcssed enve lope to: PETER J. Steincrohn, MM, P.O. Drawer D, CatonsuiUe, Md. H22S. too oitcn wnat seem tike excuse: . wot to -go to -school 'conceal some serious trwWs. ;, 7 ,g ANSWER; Yours is a timely warn ing which I know trill be helpful. Thanks for writing. f want to add something to what you have said. , Jr.'s about the possible source of the <lead poisoning: It is likely that your dOcter-esfccd whetherior not there is old pahtg in your home. Either on a porch, (he sides oi an old barn (ifyou live in (he country) oron the walls in side or outside of your house. Old paint becomes flaky. It contains large amounts of lead. Children eat flakes of paint from walls and window sills, (nrexample, and it all addsup to chronic lead poisoning (phimbism). The newer paints contain tittle or no 'Rheumatism Pills' Poison Patient San Francisco -- (UFI) -- Chry. snnlhemum blind "rheumatism pills," imported 1 from Hong - Kong caused at least one case of lead polsming.^jclijrs.ar.iip^^jd bjrjirereny Drs. Johnson B. Ughlloote and H. Joseph Blair said (hey found the pills l he the source of feed poisoning. - Poisoning Imperils Bmp, Peese As if an oil spill on the Delaware River Dec. 27 and threat of starvation because id the prolonged freeze weren't enough, Delaware wildlife of ficials have raised the possibility oi a new waterfowl calamity this winter: lead ttoisoriiiig.' "The ,birds we have lost seem to have succumbed to lead poisoning," said LlcVd Alexander, wildlife man agement supervisor for the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. "They arc not dyibg strictly of starvation.'' More thaii 1,000 Canada geese, ISO brant and SO to 100 ducksi mostly mal lards, are believed (o nave died of (lead polsaning.tnggravatdd by severe amiweather limited (oodjsupplies. Alexander said M brant were autopsled and ail 14 showed lethal doses of lead in their systems. A federal wild life iaboratoiy in Wisconsin examined samples taken from the Canada geest and confirmed they died of lead poi soning, Alexander said. Waterfowl pick up spent lead shot as they feed and obtain grit hi the water at heavily burned locations. All ofthe Delaware'smajorpublicly owned waterfowl hunting areas prohlblted the use of lead shot last fall and a statewide laid shot ban is al most a certainty) next season for blinds witbin ISO yards oi water. Vernon Stotts, Maryland waterfowl program director) said starvation is not a problem for most ducks and geese in bis state no far. He said biologists are watching (or lead polsoRfng Ih a flock of some 50,000 Canada geese in (be Bohemia River area. These birds trade between there and Middletown, Del, where lead poisoning occurred in previous years, Stotts said. Lead Studies Link Risk to Batteries Washington -- Children who five In the ghetto and cat lead-based paint flaked from the woltxpre not the only ones In danger oTIead Poisoning, fed eral disease deteCthwrltarvtrRarned. Workers In battery factories bring home enough lead dust on their clothes to contaminate their resi dences and catise/elevaled levels oi lead in their children's blood. Exccs- WRG- 1977 -u