A lot of what we do in pediatrics is reassurance, we try to reassure (parents) that not every kid is going to have every problem, but we also try to give them practical things that they can do now. There is no pill for lead. There is no antidote for lead. But there are things we can do to mitigate this exposure.

Mona Hanna-Attisha

Categorized in : US News

Teeth are like tree rings, you can see if the kid was lead-exposed, how much lead exposure there was, and when the kid had it. We're also looking at newborn heel spots (the blood taken in hospitals from the heels of all newborns) because lead in water impacts newborns. We're going to get lead levels from those heel spots.

Mona Hanna-Attisha

We care about (lead) so much because it impacts your cognition and your behavior, it actually drops your IQ. Imagine what we've done to an entire population. We've shifted that IQ curve down. We've lost our high achievers, the next kid who's going to be a neurosurgeon, and we have all these children who may now need remedial services.

Mona Hanna-Attisha

Read to your kid, talk to them, stimulate them, put them in early literature programs, enroll them in preschool.

Mona Hanna-Attisha

In five years, when kids are diagnosed with a learning disability, we can never say it was from the lead, or if that kid was always supposed to have a brain disability.

Mona Hanna-Attisha