George G. Rhoads, MD, associate dean of UMDNJ’s School of Public Health and Richard Wedeen, MD, professor of medicine at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, conducted the five-year, NIH-funded study, which looked at 780 children, ages 1 year to 33 months, in four cities. Two hundred are from New Jersey.

Half of the children were treated with the drug, Succimer, and half were given a placebo. They were followed for three years. Succimer received FDA approval in 1992 for oral treatment of children with high blood lead levels, defined as more than 44 micrograms of lead per deciliter. It removes lead from the body by inducing urinary excretion.

Although Succimer effectively lowers blood lead levels in children contaminated with moderate levels of lead, it does not improve their IQ scores or reverse psychological damage, according to Wedeen. Those in the study had levels between 20 and 44 micrograms.

"Our conclusion was that it doesn’t make sense to give this drug to children with lead in the moderate range because it doesn’t improve neurological behavioral development," says Wedeen. "It’s a fine drug, a very useful and valuable drug, for higher levels of lead poisoning." The children who participated in the study will be followed for an additional two years to see if some benefit emerges.

The researchers emphasize prevention, rather than treatment. Children are most often exposed to lead through peeling paint in old buildings, and dust from that paint.

Other participants in the study include the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, the University of Cincinnati and Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. The program is sponsored by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences and the Harvard School of Public Health's data management center.