#Cathode ray experiment for kids full#
Wipe samples were taken from the hands of 12 employees from the cathode ray tubes processing area and other areas before they left work, using wipes from the SKC Full Disclosure colorimetric test kit. Lower surface lead concentrations were found outside the production area, including in the conference room supply air duct, multiple places in the break room (e.g., floor, tables, and refrigerator handle), and the water fountain near the restrooms.
Cathode ray tubes are made from leaded glass, with lead concentrations in the funnel glass up to 25% and in the frit (where the panel glass joins the funnel glass) up to 85%. Three wipe samples taken from work surfaces in the cathode ray tubes area indicated high levels of lead. NIOSH investigators performed air and surface sampling for lead throughout facility A, which employed approximately 80 persons. The PEHSU investigator became aware of the NIOSH evaluation through a notification to a local affiliated occupational medicine training program and contacted the NIOSH investigators to notify them. NIOSH was unaware of the childhood lead poisonings, as was the employer. In 2012, in an activity unrelated to the lead poisoning incident described in this report, NIOSH conducted a health hazard evaluation at facility A, as part of an initiative to learn more about exposures in e-scrap recycling. The father left his job soon after the elevated BLLs were recognized, and the children's BLLs decreased to 8.7 µg/dL and 7.9 µg/dL, respectively, over the next 3 months.
The father was advised to notify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of his BLL it is not known if he did. The children attended daycare in a building that was built in 1992. The lead risk assessment revealed detectable lead dust on the floor of the home, but no lead-containing paint was detected in the home. The family reported there was frequently visible dust in his hair, and the children often touched his hair. He did not wear personal protective equipment at work, and he reported playing with his children when he came home. The father worked at an e-scrap recycler company (facility A), crushing cathode ray tubes. The children's primary care physician referred them to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital PEHSU, and the Cincinnati Health Department's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program completed a lead risk assessment at the family's home. In June 2010, a male child aged 1 year and a female child aged 2 years were identified by routine screening to have elevated BLLs of 18 µg/dL and 14 µg/dL, respectively. Pediatricians should ask about parents' occupations and hobbies that might involve lead when evaluating elevated BLLs in children, in routine lead screening questionnaires, and in evaluating children with signs or symptoms of lead exposure. This report summarizes the case investigation. In 2012, CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) learned about the lead poisonings during an evaluation of the e-scrap recycling facility where the father of the two children with lead poisoning worked. In 2010, the Cincinnati Health Department and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) investigated two cases of childhood lead poisoning in a single family. Recycling of used electronics (e-scrap) is a relatively recent source of exposure to developmental neurotoxicants, including lead ( 5). Take-home contamination occurs when lead dust is transferred from the workplace on employees' skin, clothing, shoes, and other personal items to their car and home ( 4). Although deteriorating lead paint in pre-1979 housing is the most common source of lead exposure in children, data indicate that ≥30% of children with elevated BLLs were exposed through a source other than paint ( 3). Young children are at higher risk for environmental lead exposure from putting their hands or contaminated objects in their mouth. Elevated BLLs in childhood are associated with hyperactivity, attention problems, conduct problems, and impairment in cognition ( 2). Lead affects the developing nervous system of children, and no safe blood lead level (BLL) in children has been identified ( 1). Nick Newman, DO 1 Camille Jones, MD 2 Elena Page, MD 3 Diana Ceballos, PhD 3 Aalok Oza, MS 3 (Author affiliations at end of text) Investigation of Childhood Lead Poisoning from Parental Take-Home Exposure from an Electronic Scrap Recycling Facility - Ohio, 2012
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