Childhood, early-life exposures associated

The exposure of children during fetal development and early postnatal life to air pollutants is associated with low birth weight, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, congenital defects, preterm and infant mortality, decreased lung growth, increased rates of respiratory tract infections, childhood asthma,... 

Other studies examined whether declines in blood lead concentration from the peak at around 2 years of age are associated with improvements in cognition later in life (Rogan et al., 1991 Ruff et al., 1993, 1996 Tong et al., 1998 Liu et al., 2002 Dietrich et al., 2004 Chen et al., 2005). Overall, these studies support the view that children are vulnerable to lead exposures occurring anytime from early childhood through school age. Further, chelation therapy does not appear to reverse the effects of lead in children with blood lead concentrations below about 45 pg dl (Rogan et al., 2001 CDC, 2002 Liu et al., 2002 Dietrich et al., 2004 AAP, 2005). 

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