76% of Iowa children have detectable lead levels in their blood, study finds. Older housing is a big reason why.

Donnelle Eller
Des Moines Register
Chipped lead paint surrounds a window on a South Bend home this summer. The city has been awarded $670,000 in grant money to repair hazards in old homes with lead-based paint.

Living in a farmhouse built in the late 1880s, Tami Paisley worried her grandchildren could be exposed to lead, which can significantly impair learning and create behavioral problems in kids.

Luckily, Paisley heard about a Dubuque County program that helps families remove possible sources of lead, primarily in paint on windows, doors, stairs and siding. She was relieved when the work was done.

"Our windows were old," she said. "Very old. And some had missing paint chips," which her visiting grandchildren could have put in their mouths.

Paisley was right to be concerned. At 76%, Iowa ranks fourth-highest nationally for the percentage of children under age 6 with detectable levels of lead in their blood, a new study shows.

Slightly more than half of U.S. children had detectable blood lead levels, according to the study, conducted by researchers at Quest Diagnostics and Boston Children's Hospital. The study says lead can be detected at levels as low as 1 microgram per deciliter of blood.

More:UI researchers: Thousands of Iowans are being exposed to unsafe levels of lead in water

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says no level of lead is safe for children, but it considers 5 micrograms per deciliter an elevated blood level and guides families to take lead-reduction measures.

The study found that nearly 2% of U.S. children had lead in their blood at or above the 5-microgram level. In Iowa, the figure was much higher: 3.6%, the ninth-highest in the U.S.

Homes built before 1950 and high poverty rates were among the factors in children being exposed to lead, said Harvey Kaufman, senior medical director for Quest Diagnostics.

The federal government banned lead paint in 1978, but in homes built before then, old paint can become exposed as chips or dust, which infants and toddlers might inhale or ingest while crawling on floors or putting fingers and other objects in their mouths, Kaufman said.

The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics in September, looked at blood lead tests from 1.14 million children under 6 years of age. About 70% of those tested were under age 3.

More:Iowans can get free testing to gauge lead levels in their drinking water

Iowa requires all children entering kindergarten to have at least one blood lead-level test. The testing is required in other states, as well.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, in a response, said it believes the Quest Labs study is "not representative of all testing conducted in Iowa," noting that the 5,184 tests Quest submitted to the state during the study period were 5.4% of the total.

The statement said that almost 97% of Iowa children under 6 tested in 2019 had a blood lead level of less than 5 micrograms per deciliter, but that its tests do not detect blood levels as low as 1 microgram per deciliter — the figure the Quest study quantified as a detectable level.

It acknowledged that Iowa data "is consistent with the reported findings identifying increased risk related to age of housing and child poverty." 

Elizabeth Kemp, who leads a federal grant program to help low- and moderate-income families remove lead paint hazards from their homes, said the study's findings "aren't a surprise."

"Iowa ranks sixth in the nation for its level of pre-1950s housing," said Kemp.

Lead exposure can damage brain, slow development

Lead exposure in children can damage the brain and nervous systems, the CDC says, slow growth and development, and cause learning and behavior problems.

In addition to Iowa, the states with the highest percentage of children with detectable blood lead levels were Nebraska at 83%; Missouri, 82%; Michigan, 78%; and Utah, 73%.

Children in six states had elevated blood levels that were more than double the national rate: Nebraska's rate was 6%; Ohio's, 5.2%; Pennsylvania's, 5.0%; Missouri's and Michigan's, both 4.5%; and Wisconsin's, 4.3%.

This graphic, provided by Quest Diagnostics, shows where Iowa ranked in blood lead levels among children.

Kemp and Kim Glaser, who work at the East Central Intergovernmental Association in Dubuque, have received federal housing grants to remove lead from homes in Delaware and Dubuque counties as well as the eastern Iowa cities of Clinton and Maquoketa. Other Iowa cities and counties have similar grants, they said.

Altogether, the grants in eastern Iowa total about $8 million and will be implemented over nearly four years. Still, it's not enough, Kemp and Glaser said. 

"We're only touching a small percentage of properties that would be eligible," Kemp said.

Professor: Look at lead water pipes, heavy industry

The high percentage of children with detectable lead levels "speaks to the need to pay attention to what might be (a) lower level of exposure in the environment," said David Cwiertny, director of the University of Iowa's Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination.

Cwiertny said states need to look more closely at the impact lead pipes may be having on children's blood lead levels. Lead can leach into drinking water from pipes, a problem that gained national attention in Flint, Michigan, where children were exposed to high levels of lead after the city in a cost-saving move switched its water source, then failed to adequately test or treat it.

The study also suggested that proximity to heavy industry as well as some consumer products also can be sources of exposure. 

Among other findings from the study:

  • 60% of children in areas with the highest levels of poverty had detectable blood lead levels, compared to nearly 39% of those in areas with the lowest levels of poverty.
  • 57% of children living in areas with the highest levels of pre-1950s housing had detectable levels of lead compared to 43% for those with the lowest level of pre-1950 housing.
  • Nearly 58% of children from predominantly Black areas and 56% of children from predominantly Hispanic areas had detectable blood lead levels, compared to roughly 49% from predominantly white areas.
  • Children in areas with the highest levels of poverty were nearly 2.5 times as likely to have elevated blood lead levels than children in areas with the lowest levels of poverty.

Action urged when lower lead levels are detected

Paisley said she and her husband, who run a dairy near Holy Cross, considered replacing old windows and doors in their home. But the family reinvests any extra cash  in their milking business, she said.

Dairies have struggled in recent years with low prices for milk. Many dairy farmers "are getting out or scraping by," said Paisley, the mother of five children, ages 11 to 26.

Her children never registered as having high blood lead levels when tested while growing up, and she said she's grateful that her three grandchildren won't be exposed to lead.

"I feel a lot better, knowing the lead is gone, and they're safe and can play and have fun," she said.

Cwiertny, the UI professor, said Iowa should look at providing help to families whose children have lower lead levels in their blood. Now, intervention occurs only when children test at 10 or 15 micrograms per deciliter.

More:Central Iowa leaders are investing millions in water trails. But can they overcome water-quality concerns?

The CDC used to use 10 micrograms per deciliter as its benchmark for helping families with lead removal, but now, "I think there's a growing awareness that even at lower levels, there still are neuro-developmental issues. There's stronger evidence on the impact on IQ and development at these lower levels of blood," Cwiertny said.

"We need to do more to help children who have these lower levels of lead who are falling outside these areas of intervention," he said.

The study pointed to research that showed if the children born in 2018 had zero lead levels in their blood lead, the U.S. could save $84 billion during their lifetimes, primarily as the result of increased productivity for people "who were able to achieve their full potential."

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.