Question

The Brown family lives in a 3 story home that was built in the late 1940s. Their bathroom and bedrooms were renovated extensively last year. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two daughters aged 8 and 3. The 8 year old daughter is frequently ill and extremely disruptive in the class. Their pediatrician after a thorough examination of the medical and anecdotal records asks the whole family to have blood tests to check for the levels of lead. The results of the blood test are listed in the table below.

What could be a possible reason or reasons for higher levels of lead in the dad relative to the mom and why?     

Family member	age	Blood level in milligram/liter
Dad	35	0.10
Mom	35	0.07
Daughter 1	8	0.3
Daughter 2	3	0.4

Answer 1

Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body of an individual often over months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems.Even though children are primarly at risk of lead poisoning it is also dangerous for adults.

In USA people living in houses built before 1960s have shown the highest risk of lead poisoning where the substance is absorbed from their surroundings.The sourse of lead in the above mentioned houses is the lead added to the paint for faster drying,durability and for resisting corrosion.

Renovation activities as in the case of Browns' house which was built in the 1940s must have generated dust or chips of paint containing lead which could have been inhaled by the adults and inhaled or eaten by the children.This must have caused the abnormal level of lead in the individuals of Brown family.

The reasons for higer level of lead in Mr.Brown than in Mrs.Brown could be due to the following reasons :-

1, Mr.Brown could have been exposed more to the paint dust during renovation because of more time spend supervising the work than his wife.

2, If the house had belonged to Mr.Brown's family and he was brought up there, he might have been exposed to the deteriorating lead added paint for a longer time than his wife.