Preventing Lead Exposure in Young Children: A Housing-Based Approach to Primary Prevention of Lead Poisoning

This document presents recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (ACCLPP) for a housing-based approach to primary prevention of childhood lead poisoning to accelerate progress toward achieving the Healthy People 2010 objective of eliminating elevated blood lead levels (BLLs), defined as at or above 10 micrograms per deciliter (>_ 10 μg/dL), in children.1 Childhood lead exposure and its resultant clinical manifestations ranging from elevated BLLs to frank lead poisoning remain a major public health problem among young children in the United States. Lead adversely affects children's cognitive and behavioral development, which is strongly related to their future productivity and expected earnings.