High lead levels reported in refugees

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Health officials in Fort Wayne are trying to find out what's causing high lead levels among Myanmar refugee children.

Fort Wayne is home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma.

A recent spike in cases of lead poisoning among Burmese children has led officials from the Allen County Healthy Homes program and an investigator from the State Department of Health contracted with the Centers for Disease Control to visit the children's homes looking for possible sources.

The News-Sentinel reports that investigators have mostly ruled out the usual sources, like lead-based paint.

Investigators now are looking at medicines, toiletries or household products that may have been imported from countries such as Thailand where the refugees lived before coming to the United States.

"Do an investigation to try and identify screen children to see who may be lead poisoned that we hadn't identified before, and than do a survey, interview families and parents to see if we can identify any common sources that may be the cause of this problem," said Dr. Deborah McMahan from the Allen County Board of Health.

Enzyme Consultants is a local company that has helped many of the refugees get accustomed to life in the United States. To help with this problem, the company is donating some of it's products, 100 percent natural green cleaning supplies, to replace the potentially toxic products they're currently using.

"It's unfortunate that this has happened with the Burmese population that lead poisoning is prevalent in the home. We want to do what we can as a local company to get those out of the home and put clean green products in the home for their use," said Mark Newbauer from Enzyme Consultants.

Dr. McMahan said the family interviews will be key to the investigation. She also said they may not have a source until sometime this summer.