Attentional performance LEAD EXPOSURE

In the last few decades, a series of cross-sectional studies of childen chronically exposed to low levels of lead has documented a variety of problems, including attentional deficits, impaired school performance, slowed psychomotor performance and lowered IQ. While several studies have failed to detect such effects, the major issues discussed today are not whether low-level lead exposure can cause such damage, but rather at what levels and during what stages of development lead can produce these effects. 

Multi-employer worksites should receive special attention, such as employment agencies, personnel services, home health services, independent contractors, and dentist and physicians in independent practice. The purpose of the regulation is to limit occupational exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials, as any exposure can result in the transmission of bloodborne pathogens and can lead to disease or death. It covers all employees who can be reasonably anticipated, as the result of performing their job duties, to face contact with blood and other potentially infectious materials or body fluids. OSHA has not attempted to list all occupations where exposures could occur. Good Samaritan acts, such as assisting a co-worker with a nosebleed, would not be considered occupational exposure. 

The prospective studies and their results are the best evidence to date for low-level lead effects on IQ, attention deficits, and indicators for later educational and social performance. These studies show a more robust lead—IQ relationship than is apparent from cross-sectional data, and the robustness is linked to the segment of the dose/exposure curve, as is apparent in the internationally pooled analysis by Lanphear et al. (2005). Equally important, these studies show lead effects persisting to older ages in children and there may well be irreversible effects. 

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