Eliminating Disparities in Children's Lead Exposure: An Unfinished Job

Mary Jean Brown1, MyDzung T Chu1, David C Bellinger1

  • 1Mary Jean Brown is with the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA. MyDzung T. Chu is with the Tufts University Medical School, Boston. David C. Bellinger is with the Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. Joseph M. Braun is with the Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI. Eve C. Gartner is with Earthjustice, New York, NY. Mark Mitchell is with Climate Change, Energy & Environmental Health Equity, Health & Climate Solutions Program, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Carla Campbell (retired) is with the Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Charlotte Brody is with Healthy Babies Bright Futures, Charlottesville, VA. Christian Hoover is with the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Arthur Lavin is a retired pediatrician, Cleveland, OH. Maureen Swanson is with Project TENDR, Hermitage, PA. Aimin Chen is with the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia.

Summary

National blood lead levels (BLLs) in young children are declining, and racial disparities have been eliminated. However, state-level data reveal persistent geographic, racial, and ethnic disparities in BLLs.

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