Pair of Surrey educators try to get the lead out

By Alex Browne - Peace Arch News

Published: June 25, 2009 3:00 PM

School days – especially for elementary age children – are not the way many adults remember them.

Learning disabilities, declining IQ levels, attention deficit disorder, autism and behaviour problems – such as violence and delinquency – have become epidemic among children over the last few decades.

Joanna Cerazy and Sandra Cottingham are two Surrey school district special-education specialists – Cerazy as a hands-on worker with a caseload, Cottingham as a district level consultant – who have seen the increase in children with such problems. And it’s become clear it’s a problem not just affecting children in their own school district, but worldwide.

Rather than continue to find ways to cope with symptoms, the two colleagues decided instead to question why.

What they found was a mass of evidence and research to suggest exposure to lead in our environment – passed on to unborn children – is the primary cause of the upswing.

Their just-released book, Lead Babies (Kunati Books), is being launched this weekend at Grandview Corners.

Cerazy, a South Surrey resident, said that in more than 20 years in education, starting in her native Poland, she has seen the incidence of developmental problems rise to almost one in every six children.

“We wanted to know what’s going on,” she said. “We started researching various toxins and realized that lead was causing it – that even a low level of lead exposure can cause very serious problems.”

While the toxic effects of lead have been known for years, Lead Babies gathers together the latest research concerning in utero transfer of lead from mother to baby, showing that lead – from a multitude of apparently harmless sources – can pass into the brain and other organs of unborn children.

As sobering as the message is, there is hope to reverse the trend.

The authors assert the aim of Lead Babies is to take a positive approach, provide practical information that will allow parents to lead-proof their homes and protect their children from the beginning of pregnancy through the early childhood years.

“We didn’t want to scare the heck out of people, we wanted to empower them,” said Cottingham, a North Delta resident.

“We’re saying we can do this for another generation, or if we’re really aware of it, we can break the cycle. We’re saying here’s the process we need to go through to lead-proof our homes. It’s not that scary, it’s not that difficult. It’s doable.”

Cottingham said they didn’t set out to write a book on lead.

“We wondered what would happen if we took research from a lot of different disciplines, from toxicology to neurology, and put together all the pieces of the puzzle,” she said.

There is a well-known tendency for different scientific research disciplines to co-exist in isolation, Cottingham said, but when she and Cerazy started correlating data from many of them, a clear pattern emerged.

“The answer kept coming up lead – and the heavy metals in general,” she said

There is, for example, a section in the book on mercury – which has been linked with autistic behaviours.

“But there’s a significant increase in the toxic effect of mercury when there is lead in people’s systems. There’s a synergistic effect. It’s a missing piece of the puzzle, one you might not see if you’re only looking at mercury. But lead is such a key piece.”

The lead industry is still flourishing, Cerazy and Cottingham report. Lead is an important component in many cosmetics, and is a key ingredient in plastics that are required to be bendable, including toys. It can even be found in some kinds of imported candy.

While some have been lulled by the notion that there are “acceptable levels” of lead, the authors say their research indicates that there is no such thing as a “safe” level where lead is concerned.

“I demonstrate to people by showing them three granules of table sugar,” said Cottingham.

“That’s the equivalent amount of lead it takes to cause brain damage in a child.”

Again, Cottingham emphasizes that the book is intended to present practical solutions, not induce panic.

And judging by hits on the authors’ website, the book is already generating a large amount of interest internationally, a fact she finds heartening.

“I really think we can break this cycle,” she said.

Cerazy and Cottingham will be on-hand at Indigo Books at Grandview Corners this Sunday (June 28) from 2 to 4 p.m. to launch their book and discuss their findings.

LEAD BABIES
Breaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism

Authors: Joanna Cerazy M.Ed. and Sandra Cottingham Ph.D
www.nomoreleadbabies.com
Publisher: Kunati Inc (USA & Canada) 1-866-356-2442
www.kunati.com
Distribution: Independent Publishers Group (IPG)
ISBN: 978-1-60164-192-2

BIG NEWS IN AUTISM RESEARCH!

Just published by the American Association for the Promotion of Research...

The Frequency of Polymorphisms affecting Lead and Mercury Toxicity among Children with Autism

Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Read the article here...  http://aapr.us/aapr/?p=571

LEAD BABIES
Breaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism

Authors: Joanna Cerazy M.Ed. and Sandra Cottingham Ph.D
www.nomoreleadbabies.com
Publisher: Kunati Inc (USA & Canada) 1-866-356-2442
www.kunati.com
Distribution: Independent Publishers Group (IPG)
ISBN: 978-1-60164-192-2

Lead Testing begins in Staten Island… 30 years after the fact.

“Nearly 30 years after a bad address led to a toxic Port Richmond industrial site being overlooked for decades, the federal Environmental Protection Agency this week will begin tests to see how much lead contamination from the old Jewett White Lead plant on Richmond Terrace has seeped into the neighborhood” reports Staten Island Real-Time news.

A school gymnasium full of residents were told that an inspector had once come looking for a site called “Shore Road”, and not realizing the name had been changed to “Richmond Terrace”, abandoned the search for the reported lead hazard site.  It reads a bit like a movie script with Julia Roberts about to arrive on the scene.

There have been early reports that the surface soil at the site is 30 x safe limits. However, as Cerazy and Cottingham point out in their newly released book, LEAD BABIES, there is no such thing a “safe level” when it comes to lead.  “Its so toxic to a developing brain – either through a child’s direct contact with lead, or in-utero exposure where a mother’s life-long accumulation of lead stored in her bones head straight for baby, that even trace amounts cause permanent damage.”

Residents are being advised to wash their homegrown vegetables well. But better advice would be to get backyard soil tested to see if it is safe to allow children and pets yard access. Testing the water, instead of using it to wash the vegetables, seems like a more logical response.

As random soil testing throughout the adjacent neighborhood gets underway, the broader region is also a concern. A nearby park will need to be re-landscaped before it is deemed safe for children.

Residents and homeowners are justifiably angry that this cleanup has been left for decades.  The question is, how much lead has accumulated in the bones and brain tissues of residents in the years that have passed. Of course the children’s safety is of paramount concern, but as Cerazy and Cottingham make so clear in their book,  “lead poisoning” at age 10 is a completely different issue than being born with a severe learning disability, ADHD or with a mental handicap because your mother’s lead crossed the placenta and permanently damaged your brain.  Given the studies that are emerging one after another, showing that bone lead and delinquent or criminal behavior are causally linked, there needs to be as much focus on getting the lead out of the systems of the teenagers and young adults, as there does protective measures for children (and pets).

LEAD BABIES

Breaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism

Authors: Joanna Cerazy M.Ed. and Sandra Cottingham Ph.D
www.nomoreleadbabies.com
Publisher: Kunati Inc (USA & Canada) 1-866-356-2442
www.kunati.com
Distribution: Independent Publishers Group (IPG)
ISBN: 978-1-60164-192-2

Toymaker Giant fined for allowing lead paint. What does this ruling mean for families?

Toymaker giant, Mattel and its subsidiary Fisher-Price, has been fined 2.3 million by the United States’ Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for allowing toys containing lead into the United States. This is a clear message to both toymakers and consumers, that the “CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.”

And there is a ban on lead paint for a good reason. Not enough of us have a real understanding of what lead does to babies and children, and just how little it takes to do damage. They are simply not aware of what it means to a child when there is lead paint on a Barbie doll, or a toy car.

An amount of lead equivalent to three tiny granules of sugar – the kind you put in your tea, is all it takes to cause permanent damage. There is simply no safe level of lead exposure, and the younger the child, the more susceptible they are to it.

In older children, lead lowers IQ and adds to an accumulating lead load that is resulting in concerning behavior problems in the teen years. When lead reaches the developing brain of an unborn child or a child under two, the result is lowered intelligence, learning disabilities, ADHD and behavior disorders later in life.  It’s the explanation of why there is a growing epidemic of individuals with learning and behavior challenges – a factor that is not only stressing the resources of schools, but also safety and productivity in the workplace. Add the related issue of crime and its costs, also an issue that researchers are certain is lead exposure related, and you have a very significant burden that taxpayers must shoulder.

Canadian authors, Cerazy and Cottingham say this news about Mattel’s fine is a positive step for consumers, but this is not a message that we can sit back and rest easy. In fact, they insist, the message is the opposite. It is up to individuals to make their homes lead-safe. A list of recalled products or government intervention in bad manufacturing practice is simply not enough.

“Consumers need a good understanding of the science attached to our biological susceptibility. And insight into the demand our society has created for lead’s continuing use and production so we know where to look for lead.”  Cerazy and Cottingham maintain that creating a lead-safe home is not complicated or expensive, but that it takes more than removing a few Barbies or toy cars from the toy box. Their new book, “Lead Babies” ties science to real life, and then guides readers through a practical three-step process to identify and remove lead from their homes. 

Visit www.nomoreleadbabies.com for more information about the book entitled, “LEAD BABIES; Breaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism”.

LEAD BABIES; Breaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism

Authors: Joanna Cerazy M.Ed. and Sandra Cottingham Ph.D
www.nomoreleadbabies.com
Publisher: Kunati Inc (USA & Canada) 1-866-356-2442
www.kunati.com
Distribution: Independent Publishers Group (IPG)
ISBN: 978-1-60164-192-2