A smoking gun for ADHD (lead-based paint, etc)

[NVMojo]

September 19, 2006

About a third of attention deficit cases in American children may stem from smoking by pregnant mothers or exposure to lead after birth, according to a national study to be released today.

The study, which analyzed data on nearly 4,000 U.S. children ages 4 to 15, found that environmental factors such as smoking and lead have a strong link to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, a behavioral condition that can permanently affect how children learn.


While lead exposure has long been linked to ADHD, the study found that levels of exposure far below government standards can put children at risk.

The study was to be published online today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Its lead authors are from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Local doctors and advocates responded strongly to its general findings. "It's one of the first studies I've heard of that's found this," said Judith Weisel of Northern New Jersey Maternal/Child Health Consortium, a publicly funded group. "It's a tremendous number of people who are affected by this."

more...

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTk0NDQyJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mw==

[Warpy]

1. A similar article went into detail

Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were 2½ times more likely to have ADHD than children who weren’t prenatally exposed to tobacco.

Children with blood lead levels of more than 2 micrograms per deciliter were four times more likely to have ADHD than children with levels below 0.8 microgram per deciliter. The government’s “acceptable” blood lead level is 10 micrograms per deciliter, and an estimated 310,000 U.S. children ages 1 to 5 have levels exceeding that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14897034/

ADHD isn't an emotional failure, poor parenting skills or a bad child.

It's chemical.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. It's great to have grown up in such a civilized and poisoned

country. Our high school science teacher let us play with MERCURY, cuz it was such a cool material.

[bloom]

3. "environmental factors"

It seems to me that smoking could be associated with a lot of things. Lower incomes, for instance. Potentially living in neighborhoods that are more polluted in other ways. People who are more likely to eat more processed, crappy food. And lots of cheap tuna.

It seems that the researchers may be making it more simplistic than it really is.

[Sgent]

4. Anything is possible....

but I suspect this.

1) the number of houses with lead based paint has been decreasing significantly. Fewer children are encountering lead based paint today than 20-30 years ago.

2) The use of nicotine during pregnancy is significantly lower than 20-30 years ago.

We haven't seen any decline in the prevalence of ADD/ADHD to match the decrease in these risk factors.