U.S. worker elevated lead levels decline

ATLANTA, June 30 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. adults with elevated blood lead levels dropped from 14 per 100,000 in 1994 to 6.3 per 100,000 in 2009, health officials say.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, said workers with the highest elevated blood lead levels were in the manufacturing, construction and mining industries.

"Although the prevalence of high blood lead levels has decreased, the health effects from lead exposure are well characterized and controls to reduce lead exposures for workers exist, high blood lead levels persist as almost exclusively an occupational health problem," the report said.

"Measures to improve and expand preventive interventions focused in the manufacturing, construction, and mining industries should be implemented by government agencies, employers, and worker-affiliated organizations."

Workers are at risk of being exposed to lead, by breathing it, ingesting it, or coming in contact with it, the CDC said.

Currently, lead and lead alloys are often used to make batteries, ammunition and other metal products, but years ago, lead was also used regularly in paint, ceramics, caulk and pipe solder among other things,. Because of its potential health problems the amount of lead used in these products today has lessened or has been removed, the CDC said.