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Faulty Lead Poisoning Test Recall


Pennsylvania defective medical device lawyers advocate for children affected by lead exposure and report on the faulty lead poisoning test recall.In May 2017, the United States Food and Drug Administration issued a medical device recall of a lead poisoning test that had been administered to up to seven million children between 2014 and 2017. The tests, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, failed in a way that caused them to provide inaccurately low results for many of the children tested.

Health officials recommend that parents whose children were tested for lead exposure with these tests have their children re-tested as soon as possible to obtain accurate results. This can be done through a blood test performed by the child’s pediatrician during a routine visit.

The test’s manufacturer has not yet found the cause of the tests’ failures. The company stated that it is exploring all potential causes to find what made the tests provide inaccurate results and it hopes to have the cause of the failure identified by March 2018.

Lead in the Home

Lead can be found in a variety of places in the home. Most often, parents are warned about lead-based paint in homes and buildings constructed before 1978. Other places where lead can be found in the home include:

  • Water that has moved through old pipes that contain lead
  • Toys painted with lead-based paint
  • Jewelry
  • Sporting and hobby objects that contain lead components or lead paint
  • Food canned in countries that use lead soldering to seal cans
  • Ceramic objects
  • Certain folk remedies, such as greta
  • Soil contaminated with lead

Lead Poisoning in Children

Lead exposure is dangerous for anybody, but it can be especially dangerous for young children whose brains are still developing. Lead poisoning is linked to developmental delays, damage to the kidneys and nervous system, weight loss, learning disabilities, hearing loss, fatigue, and seizures.

Symptoms of lead poisoning in young children include:

  • Vomiting
  • Sluggishness
  • Weight loss
  • Pallor
  • Muscle and joint weakness
  • Loss of appetite
  • Irritability

In addition to suffering greater effects of lead poisoning than adults, young children are also more likely to ingest lead into their bodies as they often put items and their hands into their mouths. Chips of lead paint and lead dust are particularly harmful because of how easily they can enter the body. Young children also tend to spend more time on the floor than adults, putting them in an environment where lead exposure is more likely.

Pennsylvania Defective Medical Device Lawyers at Brookman, Rosenberg, Brown & Sandler Advocate for Children Affected by Lead Exposure

If your child is suffering from a condition that could have been prevented if the medical devices used to test and treat them had not failed, you could be entitled to recover monetary compensation through a defective medical device claim. Contact a Pennsylvania defective medical device lawyer at Brookman, Rosenberg, Brown & Sandler. For a free consultation, call 800-369-0899 or 215-569-4000 or contact us online. We serve clients throughout the Philadelphia area and New Jersey including Philadelphia CountyChester County, and Delaware County.