childhood lead poisoning prevention branch

Health Care Provider Information

Lead poisoning is one of the most common and preventable environmental diseases in California children. There are no known safe levels of lead in children. Preventing lead exposure is the best approach.

The Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch (CLPPB) depends on health care providers - doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants - to regularly assess and screen California’s children.

New Updated Screening Regulations

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has updated screening regulations for childhood lead poisoning, effective July 6, 2026. Almost all California children are at risk of lead exposure and should get a blood lead test at ages one and two. CDPH CLPPB is in the process of updating our web pages, materials and guidelines with these new requirements. Read the full screening regulations.

California ZIP Codes with at Least One Geospatial Indicator of Risk for Childhood Lead Exposure

California Health Care Provider Mandates*

Anticipatory Guidance

Required for all children at each periodic assessment from 6 months to 6 years.
Health care providers are required to provide anticipatory guidance, informing parents and guardians about:

The risks and effects of childhood lead exposure.
The requirement that children in Medi-Cal should be blood lead tested.
The requirement that children not in Medi-Cal who are at high risk of lead exposure should also be blood lead tested.

Screen
(Blood lead test)

All children in publicly funded programs for low-income children such as
Medi-Cal; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP) at both 12 months and 24 months of age, and order catch-up testing if missed at either 12 or 24 months.

Assess

If child is not in a publicly funded program for low-income children, at both 12 months and 24 months of age: Ask: “Does your child live in, or spend a lot of time in, a place built before 1978 that has peeling or chipped paint or that has been recently remodeled?”

>> Blood lead test if the answer is “yes” or “don’t know.” <<

* Read more about the California Standard of Care on Screening for Childhood Lead Poisoning, including additional information about catch-up testing requirements, as well as other indications for a blood lead test.

* California Health and Safety Code, Sections 105275-105310