Years ago the CDC recommended that all kids have their lead levels tested, but the public health victory that got lead out of gas and paint—and caused rates of lead exposure to go down steadily—also caused the recommendations to relax. That should never have happened. Because just as the CDC relaxed its recommendations, new research revealed that even the smallest levels of lead in a child’s blood were more damaging than we ever thought possible. We should have been doing more screening, not less.
