Brain Injuries
Lead Exposure & Brain Injury News
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October 25th, 2004
"Lead exposure may affect brain injury recovery"
Scientists at Jefferson Medical College have shown young rats exposed to low levels of lead take significantly longer to recover from a brain injury than those animals that were not exposed to lead. Even low levels of lead exposure can have permanent effects on a child that will last into adulthood. Because of the underdeveloped systems children have, children are more susceptible to the serious effects of lead exposure that can include permanent damage to the brain, nervous system and kidneys.
Although it is not rare for children to suffer brain injuries, the plasticity of a young brain has a much larger capacity to repair and recover than an older brain. Since no one has looked at the effects of lead exposure early in life on the response of the brain to a later injury, yet the effects of lead have been shown to be very damaging, researchers may have identified one more reason why the importance of preventing lead exposure early in life continues to require more focus. Every year more than 434,000 children nationwide between the ages of one and five have harmful levels of lead in their blood.
