ANSWER: Apr 28 2011

Dear Deborah,

I'm really sorry to hear about your miscarriages. You ask some excellent questions. You're absolutely right to ask your doctor for a blood lead test as a priority. This one test result can potentially answer most of your questions although you may also need to investigate why supplements don't raise your ferritin level too, as a separate or possibly related issue. And of course, there are many causes of miscarriage other than a raised blood lead level.

For example, "Traffic pollution may be to blame for miscarriages, say researchers" at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/article1965262.ece points out that particulate pollution and nitrogen dioxide may induce miscarriages.

I hope that your gas heater is flued, as, according to the NSW Health Department, nitrogen dioxide (and carbon monoxide) can be given off by unflued gas heaters. [Ref: Unflued gas heaters  ].

You can also find a summary of a 2004 federal government report: "Unflued gas appliances and air quality in Australian homes" on the Dept of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities (DSEWPaC) website which states that "The measured average peak indoor 1 hour nitrogen dioxide levels were over 10 times higher than the equivalent measured outdoor values [when the gas appliance was in normal use]... Air pollutant levels, especially for nitrogen dioxide, were often significantly above health based indoor air quality criteria."

Once you have your blood lead result, it would be important for you to let the doctor know about the following conclusion from a 1999 study:

"For each 1  µg/dL [microgram per declitre] increase in blood lead, the risk [of spontaneous abortion] increased 1.13-fold; this magnitude of association represents close to a doubling of spontaneous abortion risk for every 5 µg/dL increase in blood lead (odds ratio (OR) = 1.8, 95 percent CI 1.1, 3.1)." [Ref: "Blood lead levels measured prospectively and risk of spontaneous abortion" Victor H. Borja-Aburto, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Magdalena Rojas Lopez, Paulina Farias, Camilo Rios, and Julia Blanco. American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 150, No. 6, Copyright 1999 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. All rights reserved. Received for publication August 18, 1998, and accepted for publication January 22, 1999.]

No study has been done in Australia indicating what exactly "normal blood lead levels" are here so you should certainly question any remark made by the doctor as to your blood lead result being "normal". In the USA, the most recent in a series of large-scale national blood lead surveys found a geometric mean blood lead level for women aged between 20 and 59 of 1.7 micrograms per decilitre and for men in the same age range, the mean was 2.9 µg/dL. [Reference: Table 2 in "Blood Lead Levels --- United States, 1999--2002 MMWR May 27, 2005 / 54(20);513-516  (NHANES) ]

Due to a whole lot of studies finding adverse health effects of blood lead levels above 2  µg/dL (2 micrograms per decilitre) in adults [see Dangers of a blood lead level above 2 μg/dL and below 10 μg/dL to adults ] we now recommend that you test suspect samples of dust and soil and water that you may be getting lead from, if your blood lead level is above 2 µg/dL. This is approximately equal to 0.1 µmol/L (micromoles per litre).

I can give much more detailed "next steps" once you let me know your blood lead result.

It's not likely that the heater would turn the lead paint into lead fumes but the cracking paint could easily fall off and be crushed underfoot. Yes vacuuming is not recommended unless you have a good HEPA vac. Replacing carpet with hard floors that are moppable is the answer. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Please keep in touch.

Wet-cleaning lead paint is the best way to manage chalking paint in the short term, so using Exit Mould would not have released lead, though I have no idea if Exit Mould itself is safe. I hope this helps.

All the best

Elizabeth O'Brien