Lead problems with the water in Flint, Mich., have prompted people across the country to ask whether they or their families have been exposed to the toxic metal in their drinking water, too.
When it comes to assessing the risk, it's important to look in the right places.
Even when municipal water systems' lead levels are considered perfectly fine by federal standards, the metal can leach into tap water from lead plumbing.
Lead problems with the water in Flint, Mich., have prompted people across the country to ask whether they or their families have been exposed to the toxic metal in their drinking water, too.
When it comes to assessing the risk, it's important to look in the right places.
Even when municipal water systems' lead levels are considered perfectly fine by federal standards, the metal can leach into tap water from lead plumbing.
Kate Gilles moved to Washington, D.C., from Rhode Island for a job in international public health six years ago. When she was pregnant with her son, now 3, and her daughter, who turned 1 in July, she says she paid close attention to her health.
She ate better. She exercised. She followed her doctor's orders. Gilles checked off every task on the long list of things that she was supposed to do to help protect her babies.
But that was before Flint, and it never occurred to her to test her drinking water for lead.
Read more at: NPR.org
Image via Siddhartha Roy/FlintWaterStudy.org
