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By ANDREW POTTER, TIMES-REPUBLICAN

Paint of the lead-based variety may be 50 years old or older, but it is still affecting children today.

A new state law is now in place to help catch lead poisoning in children before it gets too severe. The law requires all children to have had a lead screening and be in the state log prior to enrolling in kindergarten. Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, neurological problems and in some extreme cases death. Damage from lead never goes away.

"The damage is cumulative," said Rita Gergely, chief of the Bureau of Lead Poisoning Prevention for the Iowa Department of Public Health. "It can't be reduced but it can be stopped."

Gergely said statewide about 70 percent of children have been screened so this law will help with the other 30 percent.

Locally, most children are already being tested through their health care clinic or doctor.

"We have some of the highest testing rates in the state," said Jackie Pippin, coordinator of East Central Iowa Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention serving Marshall, Hardin, Tama and Benton counties.

Lead-based paint - which can be found in homes built prior to 1958 - can be harmful when eaten by children but also its dust particles that result from friction on a door or window are also dangerous. Dust can collect on toys, bottles and pacifiers, all items that are suggested to be cleaned often.

Marshall County has a high testing rate but unfortunately also has a high rate of lead poisoning cases. The rate in the county of children who have been poisoned is at 15.9 percent compared to a rate of 7.5 percent in Iowa and less than 2 percent nationally.

The test at Primary Health Care clinic in Marshalltown is a capillary blood test that involves pricking the end of a finger. Most area doctors use the venous blood test which is blood from a vein.

Pippin said children are more susceptible to being poisoned and most times symptoms are not easily identifiable.

"Children get lead poisoning four times more readily than adults," she said.

For more information on childhood lead poisoning call the prevention program at 641-754-5336 or talk to a doctor.

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Contact Andrew Potter at 641-753-6611 or apotter@timesrepublican.com