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Kenneth Rosenman, chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in MSU's College of Human Medicine. Photo courtesy of Department of Medicine.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — The number of Michigan children with lead poisoning has dropped more than 35 percent from 2003 to 2007, despite a dramatic rise in the number of children being tested, according to a new report from Michigan State University and the state of Michigan.

For adults, the percentage of people with elevated blood lead levels remained steady in 2007 — the latest year for which data is available — after eight years of decline. Occupational exposure remains the leading cause of elevated levels, and white males remain the hardest hit demographic.

The 2007 Annual Report on Blood Lead Levels on Adults and Children is a joint project released by MSU’s Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Despite the overall decrease in the percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels, more than 2,000 suffered from lead poisoning in 2007 and more than 17,000 showed some lead exposure.

“Considerable progress has been made in recent years toward the 2010 goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning in Michigan,” said MDCH Director Janet Olszewski. “The work is far from over, however, as children in some areas continue to be lead-poisoned at much higher rates."

More than 300,000 children across the country suffer from elevated blood lead levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Michigan, while only 1.4 percent of children had lead poisoning, several communities saw double-digit populations, including Highland Park with 10.4 percent.

Other communities with high levels that have been targeted for prevention efforts include Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Dearborn, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Muskegon, Pontiac and Saginaw; these cities account for 79 percent of all cases of poisoning.

Lead poisoning in people of all ages can lead to mental disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death, according to Kenneth Rosenman, chief of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in MSU’s College of Human Medicine. In Michigan, 5.3 percent of the 14,585 adults tested under a 10-year-old statewide testing system had elevated blood lead levels.

“Lead poisoning remains an ongoing problem in adults,” Rosenman said. “The most common exposures occur among individuals removing lead paint from outdoor metal structures such as bridges or water towers, shooting pistols in ranges without the proper ventilation, making brass or bronze fixtures or doing indoor building renovations.”

Rosenman added the current federal standard — which dates from the 1970s — allows workers to be exposed to levels of lead no longer considered to be safe. Michigan is one of 40 states monitoring elevated blood lead levels in adults.

Statewide prevention efforts for children and adults include a statewide public awareness campaign and outreach to health care providers.

“Tracking lead poisoning in both children and adults allows us to find important correlations and then better tailor our prevention efforts,” Rosenman said. “While much progress has been made, we must continue to be stringent in our efforts.”

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.