Increased Body Lead Burden — Cause or Consequence of Chronic Renal Insufficiency?

Greek physicians first recognized the association between exposure to lead and disease over two millennia ago. The sources of lead have changed since ancient times, but exposure is still largely preventable,1 which underscores the need for caregivers in modern industrialized societies to be especially vigilant for environmental sources of lead that can cause illness in persons at high risk. Although the level of environmental exposure to lead is decreasing, toxic effects of lead remain the most common environmental illness among children in the United States. The report by Lin and colleagues in this issue of the Journal 2 compels us to . . .