The attributable annual health costs of U.S. occupational lead poisoning.

ABSTRACT:

Background

U.S. occupational lead standards have not changed for decades, while knowledge about lead's health effects has grown substantially.

Objective

The objective of this analysis was twofold: to estimate the attributable annual societal costs of health damages associated with occupationally lead-exposed U.S. workers and, more broadly, to develop methods for a fuller valuation of health damages.

Methods

I combined data voluntarily reported to NIOSH on the number of highly exposed workers with published literature on the health effects of lead in adults to estimate the potential health benefits of lowering the U.S. occupational limit. I developed simple algorithms for monetizing more fully both the direct medical and indirect (productivity) damages associated with

SUBMITTER: Levin R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4984972 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature