Lead poisoning cases fell 19 percent in Baltimore last year, even as more children tested for exposure (Baltimore Sun)

Wednesday Oct 24th, 2018

The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

Interim Baltimore Health Commissioner Mary Beth Haller called the decline “wonderful news,” a product of work to educate parents about possible sources of lead exposure and to encourage more doctors to perform lead testing during office visits. To reduce cases even further, she said, proactive testing is important and needs to happen more frequently because both symptoms and sources of lead exposure are often hard for parents to notice.

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