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Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, vice president of Clinical Affairs, and director of the Center for Excellence in Health Innovation, was among a panel of experts discussing lead poisoning in Maine on the February 25 airing of “Maine Calling,” an interactive radio program on MPBN.

With public attention turned to the dangers of lead after the discovery of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, the program examined the threats posed by lead in Maine, where, according to Mills, 30 to 40 percent of homes were built prior to 1950, placing them in the highest risk category for containing lead paint.

Mills commented that it is a tragic environmental health issue “that our children are really the canaries in the coal mine…When we detect children with lead poisoning, we know that they are at risk for behavioral and IQ issues possibly for a lifetime.”

Mills shared that over the decades she has seen the medically acceptable level for lead in children drop from 60 to 5 but stated that there is still much work to be done on this issue, as there is “no safe level for lead.”