Table 3: What is Known About Lead and Lead Poisoning?
At low levels, lead
poisoning in children causes:		 At high levels, lead
poisoning in children causes:		 Effects of lead
poisoning on children can be:
  • Reduction in IQ and attention span;
  • Reading & learning disabilities;
  • Hyperactivity & behavioural
    problems;
  • Impaired growth;
  • Impaired visual & motor functioning;
  • Hearing loss.
  • Anaemia;
  • Brain, liver,
    kidney, nerve damage;
  • Coma;
  • Convulsions;
  • Death.
  • Long-term and potentially
    irreversible;
  • Intensified with repeated exposure & accumulation of lead in body.

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund and United Nations Environment Programme, Childhood Lead Poisoning: Information for Advocacy and Action, UNICEF and UNEP, New York, 1997.

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