"Sixteen areas, including Los Angeles, Tampa and Cleveland, have unhealthful amounts of lead in the air that violate national standards, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.

Declared “nonattainment areas,” those regions, located in 11 states, must require smelters and other industries to reduce the amount of lead they emit into the air. Under federal law, those areas have five years, until the end of 2015, to meet a new federal health standard.

Lead, at low levels, can damage children’s developing brains, reducing their IQs and causing learning disabilities or behavioral problems. It also has been linked to high blood cancer in adults and is a probably human carcinogen."

Marla Cone reports for Environmental Health News November 17, 2010. [2]