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Lead and Your Child's Health

The most important thing you can do to protect your child from lead poisoning is to find and remove the lead as soon as possible.

Lead poisoning is caused by swallowing or breathing lead. Once it gets into your body, it's poison. Lead can hurt the brain, kidneys, and nervous system, slow down growth and development, make it hard to learn, damage hearing and speech, and cause behavioral problems. Lead can stay in your body for a long time. Young children absorb lead more easily than adults. The harm done by lead may never go away.

What would you like to do?

Top tasks

Learn about childhood lead poisoning  Learn about lead testing in Massachusetts and what a result means for your child 

All other tasks

View childhood lead exposure by community  Finding and removing lead 

What you need to know

Learn about short-term habits to keep your child safe from lead  Learn how to protect your unborn child from lead  Learn about Massachusetts Lead Law  Sources of lead besides lead paint  Recent lead related recalls 

Contact Information

Address

250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108
Directions

Phone

Call Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at (800) 532-9571
Call Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at (617) 624-5757

Fax

(617) 624-5777

Related Services

Image credits:  Pond - Autumn Trees (Shutterstock)

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