Document QgVQBL88y1qRLg6a8XaEqrEw4

v-: - ..-.v'-r,*:'* . . , - .; \ - '*'V: : r * \ **?*:'?*'' - ' ' . * .%* *'**'-' v -. ' , iC'. Y . v.;., r- .-' :?; : : : .4 ' ;..C; v...-:; / r: - * ' .'C'&&'i-vVC &?'& ; .v,.7A-/A.'.... 'v. V..'/. ' ` ,. . : v , :.:S *' A.'-' ^ Our. blood's 37% freer -, ; vv - . ;. _ of lead /. By.Joseph Carey ; USA TODAY .. .. The amount of poisonous lead in people's blood fell an average 37 percent in the late 1970s, researchers say in to* . day's New England Journal of :; V r.' Medicine f." ,'y. .-* > .', f- !.' V "The most reasonable expla- nation (is) reduction of lead' used in gasoline production over the same period," says Jo-, seph L. Annest of the National Center for Health Statistics, co author of the report . ; Between 1970 and 1979 there wash 41 percent drop .in ^"P" 0y *:`' lead in the air, says the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency: At the same time, there was a; 40 percent reduction of lead .. . . burned in gasoline. -.4.. High levels of lead In the body are associated with learn ing problems and low intelli gence -- and some research- l/vers fear lesser amounts also r. the wood-j . of 27,801 persons. Lead levels ' fen the most -- 42 percent -r- among white children age 5 and younger. The decline of 31 percent among blacks of all ages was the smallest decline. ' "We thought it might drop by about 10 percent, but not this much," says Annest Researchers first thought the findings' were a laboratory error. >. -" , .. * :' s V ' ' -* N33822 - * < ';* < TEH 0532469