Charlie is the youngest of my four sons.
Even though we have worked so hard to keep a lead-safe home, and even though Charlie was born after the incident that poisoned his brothers (and we live in a different home than the one we lived in at that time), Charlie still tested positive with a blood lead level of 2.6 (when he was about 2 years old.)
I was furious when he tested positive for lead, after all we have been through – but then I looked around and realized it was the impact of living in a city where every single neighbor was repainting or renovating their home to some degree. The ambient lead dust from renovation, combined with the higher levels of lead found in urban soil (from decades of leaded gasoline use) was bound to leave most children in this urban environment with a blood lead level “higher than the national average” at some point in their early childhood.
Because of all we’ve been through, we knew to test him. Most parents do not test their children here in Portland – it’s not even a thought or concern.