Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Lead Poisoning in Childhood

EAD POISONING in childhood must be approached as a chronic disease requiring comprehensive, long-term, medical and social management of the child and his family throughout the preschool years. This is because of the combination of poor housing containing lead paints, childhood pica, and personal-social deprivation. New sources of lead, such as general contamination of the environment from industrial and motor car exhausts, must also be considered. While diagnosis and therapy are important, the pediatrician’s professional responsibility to his patient and community must include prevention. An effective program for the prevention and management of childhood plumbism requires the coordinated and sustamed efforts of pediatricians; health de-