Document KG06pGkV5dYv0Gzxa9698jakr

XPO LAD MBTXTi August S3, 1971 Wllian L. Nuio, Pirlroanaiatal^tsalth^ Peot. * Mew Trk I. C. Gists, 1agios Supt. Product! an sad Saginearlog - Coatral tagios Attached aoaptptr dipping wan amt to na by Pool Iona of oar Fittalmr^ Plant. A* yon caa aoa, blood loads of 04 and ap ara to bo soportad to tba local boalth antboritiao. I an anaxa that tbia in not an official document and that it prinarily la referring to load poisoning of children canoed by eating old paint chips, bet it is an indication of possible changes in lndnstrial reporting. I would appreciate any consents that you nay bare in report ing blood lorela of .04 if such directive* are forthcoalag. ICC:hr ec: L. N. Morthneck I. J. Nichols . V. Merritt J. T. Rich 0000-NLI-000020696 Leod! poasoGDoimg] r[pQGi'C]feS dosecose Secretary of Health Dr. J. Finton Speller, announced this week that lead poisoning is now a reportable disease in Pennsylvania. Following action taken by the Advisory Health Board at its July meeting. The board made the disease reportable by defining what constitutes the presence of lead poisoning and possible lead poisoning, and by amending the regulations governing communicable and noncommunicable diseases to include them. According to the new amendment, lead poisoning is evidenced by a blood lead level of 80 micrograms (.08 per cent) or higher and must be reported to the local health authorities. Possible Lead Poisoning is indicated by a blood lead level of 40 to 79 micrograms ( .04 per cent to .079 per cent) and must also be reported. Dr. Speller said the Surgeon General. United Slates Public Health Service, has recommended lead poisoning be made a reportable disease, and said that the classifications adopted in Pennsylvania follow the Surgeon General's suggested standards. Lead poisoning is an environmental disease found in old, poorlv maintained houses. Children, usually between the ages of 1 and 6. contract it by eating the pleasant-tasting chips of peeling tenement walls, painted a generation ago with leaded paint. Nationally, an estimated 400.000 children suffer lead-paint poisoning each year. Some 200 children die. Manv others are left with permanent brain . damage and retardation. 0000-NLI-000020697 N 2711.01