Minimizing the Risks of Lead Poisoning in Children : Health: Contrary to what some people seem to think, suburban, middle-class families are not immune.

To Elizabeth Jester, one of the biggest problems in the fight against lead poisoning is attitude: Too many suburban pediatricians think their middle-class patients have some magical immunity.

Not so, says Jester, a Washington lawyer who spends much of her time representing children who are lead poisoning victims in lawsuits against landlords accused of not cleaning up lead hazards.

“There are all these pediatricians running around the city who don’t know a thing about lead poisoning,” she said. “I have to say a lot of doctors out there in the ‘burbs do have a class bias that way.”

But the accumulating weight of medical studies suggests that even a simple home renovation in a well-kept, middle-class house could stir up enough lead dust to cause problems. That’s especially true if babies or toddlers are in the house, because their natural urge to explore involves picking up whatever they see and putting it in their mouths.

What should parents do?

The first step is to ask the right questions, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Children up to age 6 could be at risk if they:

* Live in or regularly visit a house with peeling or chipping paint built before 1960.

* Live in or regularly visit a house built before 1960 where there are recent, continuing or planned renovations.

* Have a sibling or a playmate being treated for lead poisoning.

* Live with an adult who has hobbies such as ceramics, stained glass making, furniture refinishing, target shooting (there’s lead in bullets), collecting lead-based toy soldiers or collecting pottery made abroad.

* Live near an active lead smelter, battery recycling plant or other industry likely to release lead.

The CDC advises that children at high risk for lead poisoning be tested routinely beginning at 6 months. Other children should be screened at ages 1 and 2.

Ideally, say medical specialists, the test should be a blood lead screening, which involves drawing a blood sample from a vein and sending it for a laboratory analysis. That test costs about $30.

The simple finger-prick test--which still is used in most public health clinics nationwide simply because it is convenient and costs only about $10 a test--is not accurate enough to detect low-level exposure to lead.

The current CDC danger mark for toxic levels of lead is 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. Any child whose blood level tests higher than that should have frequent follow-up tests, as well as a thorough environmental assessment of the home and day-care center to determine the source of the lead.