Advocacy Project: Learn, Crossword, Action!

Hey Group! :)

So it is time for my inner health educator to come out and for you to learn more about my environmental issue for our Advocacy Project! With this activity, I hope you learn more about the issue of lead poisoning and I would love for you to take action! If you forgot what my topic was about you can skim over my Advocacy Project: Issue Overview!

WHAT TO DO...For this activity there 3 sections:

1. I will educate you about the issue of lead poisoning from 3 sources. Please be sure to read and really understand what I am teaching you because after the education portion of this activity, I will quiz you in a CROSSWORD PUZZLE which leads us to section #2...
2. There will be 10 questions on this crossword puzzle activity. If you are not sure what a crossword puzzle is or how to do a crossword puzzle, go to this link! Fill in the blanks with the answer of the clues I am giving you! The answers come from what you learned in the education portion from section #1.
3. After you finished the crossword puzzle, section #3 makes you take action! I would like you to take what you learned from this activity and talk to one of your friends or roommates about what you have learned today about lead poisoning. I have learned that you learn more by teaching others and education is a circle, it has no end! So with what you have learned, find out from your roommate, landlord, or housing association and see if your house was built before the 1950's. Are you at risk for lead poisoning? Has your house been tested? Be sure to report your experience and what you found out! :)

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself." ~Chinese Proverb.

EDUCATION (Section #1):

Source: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

• Lead is a poisonous metal. Lead-based PAINT is hazardous to your health. It is a major source of lead poisoning for children and adults. In children, lead poisoning can cause brain damage and can impair mental functioning. It can slow mental and physical development and reduce attention span. It can also affect FETAL development even at extremely low levels of lead. In adults, it can cause irritability, poor muscle coordination, and nerve damage to the sense organs and nerves controlling the body. Lead poisoning may also cause problems with reproduction (such as a decreased SPERM count).
• OLDER homes may contain lead based paint. About two-thirds of the homes built before 1940 and one-half of the homes built from 1940 to 1960 contain heavily-leaded paint. Some homes built after 1960 also contain heavily-leaded paint. 
• Ingesting and inhaling lead dust that is created as lead-based paint "chalks," chips, or peels from deteriorated surfaces can expose consumers to lead. Walking on small paint chips found on the floor, or opening and closing a painted frame window, can also create lead dust. Other sources of lead include GASOLINE. Consumers can also generate lead dust by sanding lead-based paint or by scraping or heating lead-based paint. Lead dust can settle on floors, walls, and furniture.  Settled lead dust can re-enter the air through cleaning, such as sweeping or vacuuming, or by movement of people throughout the house.

Source: Wikipedia.

• Lead was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
  
• One MYTH related to lead-based paint is that the most common cause of poisoning was eating leaded paint chips. In fact, the most common pathway of childhood lead exposure is through ingestion of lead DUST through normal hand-to-mouth contact from dust generated during remodeling or painting.

Source: Karen Guerndt-realtor from Real Estate Services of Duluth LLC.

• About 80% of homes in Duluth, MN were built before the 1950's.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACTIVITY (section #2):

DOWN
1. Along with the other effects of lead poisoning,______development is effected even with extremely low levels of lead.
3. Pick one: "OLDER" homes or "NEWER" homes may contain lead-based paints.
4. Lead was banned in this year for residential use.
5. A common misconception or ________ was that the most common form of poisoning was eating leaded paint chips.

ACROSS
2. Other sources that contain lead besides paint is ___________.
4. About 2/3 of homes built before this year contain heavily-leaded paint.
6. Lead is found in this item that was put on the walls of houses.
7. Lead also effects reproduction. In men, your count of these little swimmers will go down.
8. How many percent of homes in Duluth were built before the 1950's?
9. The most common pathway of childhood lead exposure is through ingestion of small lead particles called_______.

TAKE ACTION! (section #3):

Once you have finished this activity, be sure to educate someone else on what you have learned and find out if you are at risk! So with what you have learned, find out from your roommate, landlord, or housing association and see if your house was built before the 1950's. Are you at risk for lead poisoning? Has your house been tested? Be sure to report your experience and what you found out! :)

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi