Lower Pb = Higher IQ

SCIENTISTS HAVE KNOWN FOR YEARS THAT EVEN modest amounts of lead in children’s blood can result in nasty learning problems. What they didn’t know was whether the damage was reversible once the lead was removed. Well, it certainly helps, according to a six-month study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers studied 154 children with moderate lead poisoning and found that when blood lead levels were reduced, IQ scores rose an average of three points.

That’s welcome news to the parents of 3 million American kids with lead poisoning. But getting the lead out is not easy. Some children endured a procedure called chelation, in which drugs that bind to the metal are administered intravenously; others took nutritional supplements. And any home with peeling lead paint — the most common cause of poisoning — had to undergo extensive repairs.