How to Fund Medicare

A study being published in JAMA today links long-term lead exposure to cataracts, according to numerous press reports. From the AP dispatch:

A study has found a link between lead exposure and the development of cataracts in older men, adding to the list of harmful effects blamed on the heavy metal. To measure the men's long-term, cumulative exposure to lead, the researchers analyzed their shin bones, where lead is believed to remain for up to 20 years.

The men with the highest lead levels were found to be 2.7 times more likely to have cataracts than those with the lowest levels.

"These are, to our knowledge, the first data suggesting that accumulated lead exposure, such as that commonly experienced by adults in the United States, may be an important, unrecognized risk factor for cataract," said the researchers, led by Debra Schaumberg, assistant professor of medicine and ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

The researchers said the highest levels of lead were not outside the range of what would be found in the general American population of older adults.

The study gave no information about how the participants were exposed to lead, but common sources include leaded gasoline, paint, water and air pollution.

The AP story says that upwards of 20 million American over age 65 suffer from cataracts -- the leading cause of blindness.