Response

The letter from Payne et al1 is a very useful addition to our article,2 in terms of diagnosis and workup of suspected lead exposure.

In our article, as Payne and colleagues correctly suggest, we focus on prevention and the detection of problems in children younger than 2 years of age—the most vulnerable group. Payne and colleagues confirm our assertion that blood lead level is the best widely available measure of lead exposure. We keenly await the results of their current research on noninvasive K x-ray fluorescence, which if found to be useful as a clinical tool to measure bone body burden, especially in children, will be a very useful addition to the clinical tool kit.

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