 This mother may be feeding her children an invisible poison without even knowing it. The beans she prepared in her favorite bean pot are contaminated with lead. Lead is a poison that has leached into the beans from the glaze on this pot. When the lead gets into the body, it can cause headaches, memory problems, seizures, vomiting, stomach pains, constipation, anemia, and brain damage. Some people have even died of too much lead in their bodies. Lead poisoning is a serious health problem among Latinos in California. Nearly 70% of the Latino children in California who have had their blood tested for lead have high levels of this poison in their bodies. Old lead-based paint, contaminated air, water, and soil are common sources of lead poisoning. For Latino families much of the problem can be traced to ceramic tableware, particularly brilliant colored clay pots made in Mexico that are frequently used to cook favorite family meals. These pots have lead in the glaze and brightly painted designs. Pots that are not brilliantly colored, such as commonly used casuelas, also can contain lead. The lead can be pulled into foods that are cooked or stored in these pots. It is hard to believe that ollas and casuelas that have been used for years are a health hazard, but heat from cooking is the most common way that lead from the pots gets into food. Foods with lots of acid in them, such as red or green salsas, and other tomato-based foods also pull lead from the glaze in the pottery. The lead then becomes mixed with the salsa or other food in the pot. Lemon, vinegar, and many other foods also are acidic and have the same effect on lead-based glazes. So are fruit juices, sodas, coffee, and tea. Even a mildly acidic liquid can pull lead if it is hot and allowed to sit in a cup for a long time. Wine, beer, and carbonated alcohol drinks also will pull lead from some glassware and ceramic containers. A number of low-cost or free test kits are available. They are easy to use and do a good job telling you whether your tableware contains lead. You can get them from most hardware stores and other stores where paint products are sold. If you don't know whether any of your pots or other dishes contain lead, you should stop cooking, serving, and storing food in them until you've had them tested and know they do not contain lead. We have this typical Mexican platter that is beautiful, but we must check it to determine if it does not leach lead. The lead can come from the glaze that is put on this dish so that it looks shiny. To see how nice this green glaze is, well, that is exactly what we are going to check to be sure there is no lead leaching from the glaze. The lead-check swab changed in color. The platter isn't safe for our health. We can use it, but only for decoration and nothing else. We can put it in the dining room, in a cabinet as decoration, but we can't use it for cooking. This changed in color too. You see that it too leaches lead. We can't use this, it isn't safe. We can only use it as a vase, an adornment in the kitchen, or as a decoration in the living room. They are very beautiful, but cannot be used for cooking. We just can't use them anymore. We have discovered that the ceramic pot and platter are leaching lead. Then, we have to take them out of use, both the platter and the pot can't be used for cooking. Even though we have used the pot for cooking food, making coffee or a tole, in this case, we can't use the pot or the platter anymore and must limit them to decoration. Instead, we will use this pot, which is safe. This pot is safe for cooking all types of foods. But these aren't. The tests show that any of your tableware contains lead, don't cook or store food in it. You can still keep your favorite pots for decorations, plants, and other uses, but continuing to use them for food can cause health problems for your family. Health problems caused by too much lead in the body vary depending on how long a person is exposed to lead and whether the exposure is to high levels or low levels of lead. This will not know if a child is lead poisoning because children do not show symptoms, physical symptoms and therefore they should take the child to their physician, their doctor, or to their local health department for a blood lead test. Lead in the body is stored mostly in bone. That can last up to 20 years in our bodies that way. It leaches out or it comes out of the bone into the system, the rest of our system again, in moments of stress such as through pregnancy, through chronic diseases at old age and any other debilitating illnesses. Ungoing exposure to lead is a serious problem for growing children. Lead accumulates in the body and can affect a child's developing brain and nervous system, which in turn can affect intelligence and behavior. Teachers often see on the kids having lead poisoning behavior problems and learning problems. One of these behavior problems are hyperactive when they can concentrate and they keep moving and doing different things on one time and they don't pay attention when the teacher is talking and giving some other behavior problems to the teachers and they are complaining constantly because of this. Usually the mothers in the community are complaining because their kids' behaviors change and one of the things changes is the kid was very active and after they got lead poisoning they start to react in like, tiredness, they don't want to do anything in their homes, they sleep and their mom knows something is going on there. The problem is even more serious when our diet doesn't have enough foods that are rich in iron and calcium. When the body doesn't get enough iron or calcium, it can absorb lead more easily. A child with lead poisoning usually does not look or act sick. If you suspect lead poisoning might be a problem in your family, especially with children between the ages of six months and six years, you should contact your doctor or local health department. A blood lead test can determine if there is an unsafe amount of lead in the body. High blood levels of lead and problems associated with high levels of lead can be reduced substantially just by removing this source of exposure. Terracotta ceramic cookware, known as ollias de barro, should not be used to cook, serve or store foods until the cookware has been tested and does not contain lead. Another source of exposure unique to the Latino culture is the use of folk remedies or medicines. These bright yellow, red, or white powders, known as Greta and Azarcon, contain dangerous amounts of lead and should never be given to children or adults. Children also can get lead poisoning by drinking fruit juice products from cans with lead solder seams that are still used in some areas outside the United States. Because of an increased public health focus, many families are just now becoming aware of the health and learning problems caused by lead poisoning. A sister-in-law of mine who has been here for a while told me I should take the children in for a vaccination and ask them to give the children a physical exam. I simply did it because I thought it was necessary. And now it seems like there are so many problems and one of them was lead poisoning. My husband sat her close to the house and I imagined it was because of that or because of the dishes I used made of ceramic. I would prepare my daughter some manzanilla tea when I thought she had colic or some pain a stomach ache. I would fix the manzanilla in a clay pot. Lead poisoning is a major environmental concern for Latinos. You can keep yourself and your family healthy by using lead-free ceramic cookware and eating good sources of iron and calcium-rich foods. Be aware that there are also many other sources of lead in the environment. Contaminated air, paint, water, soil, and take steps to avoid or remove them wherever possible. For more information on lead poisoning, contact your local health department or health provider. Keep yourself and your family lead-free and healthy.