Lead damages child kidneys, even low levels

Tiny amounts of lead are common in the blood of U.S. teenagers and may be damaging their kidneys, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

They found evidence of early kidney damage in children with lead levels far below what is normally considered dangerous and said this could lead to kidney disease in later life.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that very low levels of lead may impact kidney function in healthy children, which underscores the need to minimize sources of lead exposure," Dr. Jeffrey Fadrowski of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the study, said in a statement.

Even though sources of lead have been drastically cut in the United States, the metal may still be damaging the health of some people, Fadrowski's team reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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