Lead Poisoning discusses one of the most critical and preventable environmentally induced illnesses. The actual toll lead poisoning takes on society cannot be measured fully due to the "silent" nature of health effects, such as subtle intellectual deficits and neurological damage, caused by chronic low-level exposures. This book covers every major topic on the subject, including lead poisoning in children, sources of contamination, state-of-the-art sampling and analytical measurement methods, the newest studies on low-cost abatement methods, and much more. This reference is the most comprehensive presentation of issues currently available under one cover. The text is divided into three major parts. Part I provides insights from studies assessing lead exposures from paint, dust, soil, and lead battery recycling operations. The second part is a unique collection of strategic federal policy statements from the U.S. EPA, HUD, and HEW-CDC. It details the National Implementation Plan as well as a local government's efforts to provide low-cost effective risk communication and public outreach to the community. The next part offers seven chapters on analytical issues in the measurement of lead in blood, paint, dust, and soils. Part IV, Sampling Methods and Statistical Issues, rounds out the technical portion of the volume. The relationships among lead levels in biological and environmental media are investigated and the interpretive problems discussed. The use of multi-element analysis of environmental samples as an approach to investigate sources is described. The book finishes with its most unique feature-OPPT's Check Our Kids for Lead Program, one organization's effort to empower its employees to make a personal difference in confronting the problem of lead poisoning in children. The Program serves as a model for other government organizations (federal, state, and local), university and community organizations, and corporations to educate them and take personal and corporate responsibility for addressing this important and environmental health problem.

The Superfund program of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in the 1980s to address human-health and environmental risks posed by abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous-waste sites. Identification of Superfund sites and their remediation is an expensive multistep process. As part of this process, EPA attempts to identify parties that are responsible for the contamination and thus financially responsible for remediation. Identification of potentially responsible parties is complicated because Superfund sites can have a long history of use and involve contaminants that can have many sources. Such is often the case for mining sites that involve metal contamination; metals occur naturally in the environment, they can be contaminants in the wastes generated at or released from the sites, and they can be used in consumer products, which can degrade and release the metals back to the environment. This report examines the extent to which various sources contribute to environmental lead contamination at Superfund sites that are near lead-mining areas and focuses on sources that contribute to lead contamination at sites near the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. It recommends potential improvements in approaches used for assessing sources of lead contamination at or near Superfund sites.