METALLOPATHY Evidence on heavy metals in people

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My child's blood lead level is elevated - what do I do and how do I find the source?

CDC's blood lead reference value is 3.5 µg/dL for children aged 1 to 5 years, equal to the level at or above which 2.5 percent of those children fall. CDC says it is not a toxicity threshold, that no safe blood lead level in children exists, and that follow-up testing to confirm the level is recommended. This corpus does not contain a verified checklist for finding the source in a home, so no search protocol is invented here.

What CDC states about the number

The saved MMWR page says venous blood is less likely to be contaminated than a skin prick. It says whether a result at or above 3.5 µg/dL triggers medical or environmental follow-up depends on jurisdictional laws, regulations, and resources. It points clinicians to CDC's recommended actions based on blood lead level. This site does not reprint a treatment plan. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7043a4.

In NHANES 2017 to 2018, children aged 1 to 5 years had a blood lead geometric mean of 0.670 µg/dL and a 95th percentile of 2.02 µg/dL (n=629), read from the saved CDC table. That row is population description, not a diagnosis.

What chelation did and did not do

In children with blood lead of 20 to 44 µg/dL, succimer lowered blood lead and did not improve cognition. That trial is graded on the DMSA page. It is not a set of instructions.

Related pages

Sources

  1. CDC MMWR 2021;70(43), doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7043a4
  2. CDC National Report, blood lead table
  3. Rogan et al. 2001 TLC trial, PMID 11346806

Heavy Metal Index

Heavy Metal Index: Lead. This Heavy Metal Index URL returned HTTP 200 on 15 October 2026. Figures on this page are not copied from that index. They come from the sources named above.

What's safe to buy

The Heavy Metal Tested and Certified public register listed no licensees on 15 October 2026. That page reported 0 certified brands and 0 certified products, and it stated that no brand has completed the three-lot baseline. A specimen layout on the register is an illustration, not a licensee. This page does not name or rank any brand.

The program states that certification is a measurement of a product against a published limit, not a statement that the product is safe. If a licensee is later listed for this category, it will be on the register.

This page summarizes cited documents. It does not diagnose or prescribe. Reviewed 15 October 2026.