Chronic, low-level lead poisoning is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adults and cognitive deficits in children, even at levels previously thought to be safe, according to a paper by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Simon Fraser University in Canada, and Harvard Medical School, and Boston Children's Hospital.

In children, exposure is responsible for an annual loss of some 765 million IQ points in children globally. Low-level lead poisoning is a risk factor for adults, which can result in chronic kidney failure, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Lead accounted for 5.5 million deaths annually from cardiovascular disease.