following a 2023 outbreak of elevated levels of lead in children associated with consumption of contaminated applesauce.
Federal legislation in the 1970s eliminated lead from gasoline, paints, and other consumer products, and resulted in significantly reduced blood lead levels (BLLs) in children throughout the United States.
But recently published studies highlight persistent issues with lead in drinking water and consumer products, suggesting that the fight is not over.
It’s in the Water
In 2014 the city of Flint, Michigan, changed its water supply and high levels of lead were later found in the municipal water supply.
Effects of that crisis still plague the city today. An initial study found that elevated BLLs had doubled among children between 2013 and 2015.
Lead exposure in young children is associated with several negative outcomes, including decreased cognitive ability, brain volume, and social mobility, and increased anxiety/depression and impulsivity, and higher rates of criminal offenses later in life.
Many other water systems still contain lead pipes, despite a 1986 ban by the US Environmental Protection Agency on using them for installing or repairing public water systems. The mayor of Chicago announced a plan to start replacing lead service lines in 2020; however, 400,000 households are still served by these pipes, the most in the nation.
Benjamin Huynh, a native of Chicago, was curious about the impact of all those lead service lines. Now an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, he and his colleagues researched how many children under the age of 6 years were exposed to contaminated water.
The results showed that lead contamination of water is widespread.
“We’re estimating that 68% of kids under the age of 6 in Chicago were exposed to lead-contaminated drinking water,” Mr. Huynh said.
He added that residents in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods had the highest risk for lead contamination in their water, but children living on these blocks were less likely to get tested, suggesting a need for more outreach to raise awareness.
Meanwhile, a little over one third of Chicago residents reported drinking bottled water as their main source of drinking water.
But even bottled water could contain lead. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a limit for lead in bottled water to five parts per billion. The FDA threshold for taking action in public drinking water systems is 15 parts per billion. But the American Academy of Pediatrics states that no amount of lead in drinking water is considered safe for drinking.
Mr. Huynh also pointed out that not all home water filters remove lead. Only devices that meet National Sanitation Foundation 53 standards are certified for lead removal. Consumers should verify that the filter package specifically lists the device as certified for removing contaminant lead.
Lead-tainted Cinnamon
Last fall, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services identified several children with elevated levels of lead who had consumed WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Fruit Puree pouches.
An investigation by the FDA identified additional brands containing lead and issued a recall of applesauce pouches sold by retailers like Dollar Tree and Amazon.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 500 children were affected by the tainted applesauce. The FDA traced the source of the lead to cinnamon from a supplier in Ecuador.
An FDA spokesperson told this news organization the episode appears to have resulted from “economically motivated adulteration,” which occurs when a manufacturer leaves out or substitutes a valuable ingredient or part of a food. In the case of spices, lead may be added as a coloring agent or to increase the product weight.
“When we look at domestically made products from large, reputable companies, in general, they do a pretty good job of following safe product guidelines and regulations,” said Kevin Osterhoudt, MD, professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “But when we use third-party sellers and we import things from other countries that aren’t regulated as closely, we certainly take a lot more risk in the products that we receive.”
While the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 aimed to improve agency’s capacity to manage the ever-rising volume of food produced domestically and imported from overseas, the funding has stayed flat while the volume of inspections has increased. In the early 1990s, the number of shipments screened by the agency numbered in the thousands annually. Last year the FDA screened 15 million shipments from more than 200 countries, according to the agency.
Prompted by the finding of lead in applesauce, the FDA began a wider investigation into ground cinnamon by sampling the product from discount retail stores. It recalled an additional six brands of cinnamon sold in the United States containing lead.
Dr. Osterhoudt’s message to families who think their child might have been exposed to a contaminated product is to dispose of it as directed by FDA and CDC guidelines.
In Philadelphia, where Dr. Osterhoudt practices as an emergency room physician, baseline rates of childhood lead poisoning are already high, so he advises families to “do a larger inventory of all the source potential sources of lead in their life and to reduce all the exposures as low as possible.”
He also advises parents that a nutritious diet high in calcium and iron can protect their children from the deleterious effects of lead.