The New York Times has a news article on a decision by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lower the recommended limit for lead in children under 6 years old to 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, from 10 micrograms per deciliter. The article paraphrases Christopher Portier, director of the agency's National Center for Environmental Health, as saying that "that no lead level was considered safe in young children and that sometimes the effects could be so subtle as to be unnoticeable."
If the effects of lead exposure at these levels are so subtle as to be unnoticeable, some might ask why we need the government to protect us from it.
