Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of whether childhood exposure to lead can lead to the early onset of dementia.

Lead is a known neurotoxicant and has been shown to affect cognitive function, especially following exposure during early life. However, the causes of dementia are multifactorial and it would be very difficult to investigate whether exposure to lead in childhood leads to early onset of dementia.