How Much Lead Does It Take to Harm Your Family?

What have you done to ensure your family is safe?

Do you know what steps to take?

Research has revealed that the amount of lead it takes to harm the unborn, infants, children, teens, and adults is far less than was once believed. Many parents are surprised when they learn that permanent damage can be caused by mere trace amounts of lead.

The way to avoid this potentially irreversible lead exposure is to understand it and ensure that you are lead-safe both at home and at work. Becoming lead savvy is essential, knowing not just where to watch out for lead, but equally as important, fully grasping what the dangers are - how lead effects the people it harms.

A generation of children struggles to sit still, concentrate, read, and behave. "The impact of lead exposure is so destructive that we have devoted ourselves to raising awareness about its effects," Vancouver authors, Cerazy and Cottingham explain. "Our new book, LEAD BABIES: Breaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism, explains how lead is hurting our families and what to do about it."

An understanding that lead transfers directly from an expectant mother to her unborn baby is critical information for parents. The focus on lead in toys implies that the only risk involved is to children. And this is simply not so. The worst damage of all - the permanent cognitive damage to the developing brain, happens in-utero or in the first couple of years of life. Exposure beyond that threshold results in a decrease in cognitive function - IQ levels, and an overall increased level in one's toxicity, that is a continued risk throughout our lives. Lead-caused damage, unless a person's exposure causes levels which actually cause lead "poisoning" to occur, are typically delayed, noticed later in life as sterility issues (for both men and women) or when in-utero effected babies enter school and begin to struggle.

Once parents understand that there is no safe amount of lead, the best defense is to identify, reduce and remove lead from our home, routines and activities. As consumers, each of us needs to learn what to look for when buying new products. To help, Cerazy and Cottingham have constructed a step-by-step lead inventory. Their book is an invaluable resource at a time when scientific research is confirming that it is trace amounts of lead doing permanent damage to the parts of the brain that allow us to learn and focus - not massive exposure incidents causing lead poisoning symptoms that an emergency room might treat, that we need to be most concerned about.

Here is what one reader said: “Lead Babies empowered me to take action to protect my family. I had no idea there was so much I could do.”

The purpose of the book is to re-educate, to provide the tools to do something about it, and ultimately to break the cycle of lead caused damage.

 Authors, Joanna Cerazy M.Ed. and Sandra Cottingham, Ph.D. have set up a website where parents and concerned individuals can go to learn more about the help that is available to them. www.nomoreleadbabies.com