; Whereas undernourished children, who lack calcium and iron, are more vulnerable to absorbing lead; Whereas the World Health Organization links exposure to high amounts of lead among pregnant women to stillbirth, miscarriage, premature birth, and low birth weight; Whereas lead stored in a woman’s body is released into her blood during pregnancy and becomes a source of exposure to the developing fetus; Whereas poorly regulated or informal recycling of used lead-acid batteries, particularly in developing countries, heightens the risk of occupational exposure to lead, including among children, and environmental contamination; Whereas that contamination is connected to the food system through the consumption of shellfish and fish living in contaminated water, animals foraging in contaminated spaces, and the cultivation of crops in contaminated fields; Whereas household and consumer goods in low- and middle-income countries that are contaminated with lead, such as cookware, spices, toys, paint, and cosmetics, can poison children in those countries and can enter the global supply chain and poison children in the United States; Whereas, in 2023, World Bank researchers conducted a comprehensive examination of country-by-country data on blood lead levels among children 5 years old and younger and determined an estimated loss of 765,000,000 intelligence quotient points occurred among the total children captured by the data; Whereas, in that same study, World Bank researchers determined that in 2019, 5,500,000 adults died from cardiovascular disease associated with lead exposure and the global cost of lead exposure was approximately $6,000,000,000,000; Whereas lead poisoning may account for up to 20 percent of the learning gap between children in high-income countries and children in low-income countries; Whereas there are cost-effective approaches to prevent lead exposure, with significant return on investment in the form of improved health, increased productivity, higher IQs, and higher lifetime earnings