Lead Series; The Silent Epidemic: – Part Two (of 3)

The way people get acute lead poisoning is through exposure to old paint right at home. The stereotype is of a poor child eating a paint chip in a dilapidated housing project. But, plenty of cases of poisoning come from lead dust, particles too small to notice. And while children living in low-income homes run a greater risk of poisoning this way, thousands who live in more affluent homes are also at risk. In Part 2 of the re-broadcast of our series, “The Silent Epidemic”, Deirdre Kennedy reports on how one young family learned about lead poisoning the hard way.