EPA Region 7 has joined a new initiative aimed at protecting young children from the ill effects of lead poisoning.

EPA joined parents, teachers, news media, and federal, state and local health and environmental agencies for the initiative titled, "Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future," to mark the National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week from
20 to 26 October, 2013 in order to raise awareness on the matter.

According estimates by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention around 4 million households have children at the risk of exposure to toxic lead in the United States. Data showed that about half of children aged 5 and younger were found to be with blood lead levels above five micrograms per decilitre, which is a reference level when CDC initiates a public health actions.

Experts said that the most common way for the children to become exposed to lead is by breathing or swallowing dust or chips of lead-based paint. The paint was often found in and around housing or child-care facilities that were built earlier than 1978, when such paint was banned in the country.