Government figures have just been released, showing that the levels of lead present in the United States have dramatically declined. At the same time, another report has shown that the number of cases of asthma in children is on the rise.
The news has prompted leading health and welfare professionals to ask questions about how best to protect the wellbeing of some of America’s vulnerable children. Whilst the country is doing well to reduce the amount of lead present in children’s systems, and also to reduce the amount of tobacco smoke that they are exposed to in their home environment, further work is clearly needed in order to help tackle the growing health concerns that asthma causes young Americans.
In order to assess the lead levels, blood tests have been carried out, measuring the levels of lead in children aged one to five years old. These tests have shown an astounding 92 percent drop in the blood concentration of lead that appears in these tests, between 1976 and 2010.
Equally pleasing is the news that the levels of continine (a substance which is present in second hand cigarette smoke) in children aged 3 to 17 has been shown to drop by around 88 percent between 1988 and 2010. This is largely due the huge reduction in smoking as an acceptable social habit. In 2010, six percent of children aged from newborn to six years old lived in a home with someone who was a regular smoker, which contrasts sharply with 1994 where, in this same age group, 27 percent of children lived with a smoker.
Air pollution has also improved, as the percentage of children who live in a country where the concentration of air pollution exceeds the national standards has decreased from 75 percent to 59 percent.
Worryingly, however, asthma rates have risen from 8.7 percent of children in 2001 to 9.5 percent, showing that there is still much work to be done. It is thought that asthma can be triggered by air pollutants, and the encouraging news is that whilst there are more actual cases of asthma, the severity of the respiratory symptoms has declined indicating that the measures that are being put in place are having a positive effect on the wellness of America’s children.
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