Children's health

When summer starts with a stifling heat wave, as many places are seeing in 2024, it can pose risks for just about anyone who spends time outside, whether they’re runners, people who walk or cycle to work, outdoor workers or kids playing sports. Susan Yeargin, an expert on heat-related illnesses, explains what everyone should think about before spending time outside in a heat wave and how to keep yourself and vulnerable family members and friends safe. What risks do people facing running, walking or working outside when it’s hot out? The time of day matters if you’re going for a run, or if you’re walking or cycling to work during a heat wave. Early risers or evening runners face less of a risk – the Sun isn’t as hot and the air temperature is lower. But if your normal routine is to go for a run midmorning or over lunch, you probably want to rethink exercising in the heat. Pretty much everywhere in the U.S., the hottest part of the day is be...

As spring phases into summer across the U.S., kids are spending more time outdoors. Playing outside is healthy in all kinds of ways, but it also poses some risks. One that many families may not be aware of is exposure to lead in soil, which is still a serious problem, mainly in cities. Children can be exposed to lead by swallowing or inhaling soil while they are playing. Young children often put their hands in their mouths and may have dirt on their hands. Kids and pets also can track lead dust from soil indoors. And anyone who eats fruit or vegetables grown in contaminated soil can ingest lead. Early in 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lowered the screening level for lead in residential soils from 400 parts per million – a standard that was more than 30 years old – to 200 parts per million. This more protective lower number reflects current understanding of soil as a significance source of lead exposure for children. EPA officials said that at homes...

On Sept. 3, 1973, a fire swept through the baghouse of the Bunker Hill mine in Idaho’s Silver Valley. The building was designed to filter pollutants produced by smelting, the melting of rocks that separates metal from its ore. The gases produced in this process carried poisons, including lead. At the time, the prices of lead and silver were climbing toward all-time highs. Rather than wait for new filters and repairs, company officials kept the mine running. They increased production, bypassed the filtration steps and, for eleven months, dumped noxious gases directly into the surrounding area. Then, horses in the area began dying. When data on children’s blood lead levels began to arrive in September 1974, one year after the fire, the results were shocking. The fire became one of the largest single lead-poisoning events in U.S. history. The Bunker Hill smelter in the 1970s. The mine closed in 1991, but planning is underway...