Both children and adults are susceptible to health effects from lead exposure, although the typical exposure pathways and effects are somewhat different.

• Children who reside in pre-1978 housing facilities (and especially those in inner cities or those built before 1950) are at greatest risk for exposure, because the houses may contain lead-based paint.
• Adults who work in jobs involving lead may be occupationally exposed.
• Developing fetus are also at risk for adverse health outcomes (less than 1% have levels greater than or equal to 10 µg/dL), as levels that present risk to the fetus do not present risk to the mother.

While children's lead levels have steadily declined in recent decades, some populations of children are still at significant risk of lead poisoning.

• In particular, children who live in older housing are more likely to have elevated BLLs than the population of U.S. children as a whole.
• It is important to note, however, that no economic or racial/ethnic subgroup of children is free from the risk of having BLLs high enough to cause adverse health effects.
• Of the children reported with confirmed elevated BLLs between 1997 and 2001, approximately 17% were non-Hispanic whites, 60% were non-Hispanic blacks, 16% were Hispanic, and 7% were of other races or ethnicities. (CDC, 2003)
• The children affected are more likely to be poor and from racial/ethnic minority groups that cannot afford appropriate housing.

Continued on page 2, 3