Do dangerous levels of lead permeate your home?

We've known the danger of lead paint in homes, but how does it get into our bloodstreams? Learn about that and the many other surprising ways your home can be contaminated with lead in ways you may never have even imagined.
At least 600 Syracuse children were poisoned by lead paint last year - a crisis that shows the difficulty in solving a stubborn and expensive problem among the city's poorest families.
Eleven percent of children tested in Syracuse in 2017 had elevated levels of lead in their blood, according to new data from the Onondaga County Health Department.
Most of the children tested were 1 and 2 years old. That means hundreds of toddlers joined the thousands of older children who have grown up with the damage caused by ingesting lead paint from Syracuse's aging homes.
It's a crisis that suffers from a lack of money, weak laws, roadblocks in government coordination and flailing enthusiasm in a community that often treats the problem as if it died in the 1980s. Even some doctors don't follow the law.
So far this year, 13 patients have undergone a painful and expensive treatment called chelation at SUNY Upstate Hospital, according to Dr. Howard Weinberger, medical director of the Central/Eastern NY State Regional Lead Poisoning Research Center and the leading expert in Syracuse for four decades.
Those children had blood lead levels over 40 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. Blood levels are considered elevated at 5 micrograms.
The federal government banned the use of lead in paint in 1978. But the poisoned paint still layers walls, doors and porches in many Syracuse homes. About 91 percent of homes in Syracuse were built before 1980, according to the U.S. Census.
Children ingest the paint dust and chips. When inspectors look for peeling paint, they also look for tiny bite marks. The paint tastes sweet.
Experts believe there is no safe level of lead in blood. Even after treatment, the effects of lead poisoning are irreversible and plague children for life, Weinberger said.
Low levels of lead in blood can cause reduced motor skills, hyperactivity, aggressive behavior, learning disabilities, speech delay and hearing impairment. High levels can cause mental disabilities, convulsions, coma or death.
Scientists have linked lead poisoning to a host of social ills, contributing to lower graduation rates, aggression and lack of impulse control and even gun violence.