Lead is naturally occurring, highly toxic metal found in trace amounts deep in the Earth. Mining lead constitutes half of its annual production. Lead is used in numerous commercial industries due to its distinct physical and chemical nature. Although it has various beneficial uses, lead is toxic to humans, even at relatively low levels. For this reason, regulations monitoring lead production and exposure have continued to progress since the 1960s. Lead’s specific characteristics dictate its fate in the environment. Today, there are several sites in the US that currently present risks of exposure to lead. The EPA has implemented techniques to remediate lead present in public water supplies.
Nature and Production
Lead is a dense, naturally occurring
…show more content…
As of 2006, the CDC has stated that lead should not exceed 10 micrograms/dl in children and 30 micrograms/dl in adults. The Occupational Health and Safety Agency has set a permissible exposure limit for lead in workplace air at 50 micrograms/dl averaged over an eight-hour workday. In uncontaminated soil, lead concentrations are less than 50 ppm. The EPA has set two standards for lead in soil. In play areas with bare soil, lead may not exceed 400 ppm by weight and 12000 ppm in non-play areas. In drinking water, the EPA’s maximum contaminant level goal is zero. However, the established action level for lead in drinking water is 15 micrograms/L. The FDA’s action level for lead in products designed for children and infants is 0.5 micrograms/mL (U.S. Department of Health and Human …show more content…
Lead in soil, dust, and paint is regulated by Title IV of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 (Lead and Copper Rule). In 1977, lead was prohibited from consumer use paint. Between 1976 and 1996, gasoline containing tetraethyl lead was phased out (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
In the 1920s, the octane rating of gasoline was about 70. Tetraethyl lead was found to improve the octane rating of gasoline by slowing down the flame front’s movement through the combustion chamber. When the EPA established exhaust emission standards in 1975, companies decided to implement catalytic converters to reduce exhaust pollution. However, the lead in gasoline destroyed the catalyst’s ability. With the additional mounting medical data indicating that lead causes health problems in children, the EPA began phasing lead out of gasoline (Brown 94).
Characteristics Determining Distribution and Fate in
... water crisis will have a long term affect on those who are consuming this water on a daily basis. Lead attack the brain and can cause coma and possibly death. Children who survive lead poisoning are left with serious health issues such as metal defects and leave a child mentally unstable. Even at lower levels of exposure symptoms such as behavioural changes such as reduced attention span, reduced intelligence quotient (IQ). Children with smaller amount of lead exposure also showed increased anti social behaviour, it also reduces educational attainment. These side effect of high lead exposure can leave children scarred for life. The water crisis in Flint Michigan car scar children for life. This could all be resolved if they could come to an agreement and replace the water pipes, allowing for cleaner and healthier water to be accessible to citizens in Flint Michigan.
This is why the Flint water crisis is so critical today. Because young children are being exposed to lead and they should actually be screened from the lead. The pipelines with lead in the water system and the whole community of Flint, not being able to drink water out of the facet as well as not being able to
Every underground gas tank eventually leaks, and the gasoline is soaked up by the surrounding ground. MTBE is not soluble in water; therefore, when the gasoline leaks out of the tank, the MTBE pollutes the ground water (well water), and eventually the surface water also. In addition, though MTBE reduces the amount of most pollutants released from automobiles, it also produces a harmful pollutant, formaldehyde, when combusted [CECA]. Even worse, a study performed by a medical researcher from the University of Pennsylvania, shows that MTBE may be the cause of a seventeen percent increase in asthma among kindergarten students since it has been utilized in gasoline. The study also shows that MTBE has failed to improve smog levels in the years it has been in use [Jones].
Lead is a metal found virtually everywhere even today. Sources of lead include auto body shops, electric storage batteries, glazes for china dishes, crockery, insecticides, electric cable insulation, hose, pipe, sheet and floor coverings. Lead is associated with stain glass work, jewelry making and antique ceramic doll painting. Although lead in paint was outlawed, there are still many homes that have lead paint (White et al, 1990). Lead found in gasoline was found in one study to account for 23--27% of the lead blood levels in the people tested (Wagner, 1991). This exposure to lead sources is more of a concern for children due to the characteristic habit of children to taste everything they touch; this characteristic is known as pica. Children are also in closer contact with their lead polluted environment during play. They are more active and exposed to outdoor contaminates and they inhale dust and dirt that are lead contaminated. Furthermore, the adsorption rate of lead in the digestive tract is up to 10 times greater in chil...
When lead enters the environment, it starts to become a problem. After a period of about ten days, depending on the weather, it falls to the surface. Here lead builds up in the soil particles. Where it may make its way into underground water or drinking water due to the fact the grounds acidic or if it's soft enough. Either way it stays a long time on the soil or in water. Months or years down the road after the lead has built up it starts to become a problem for children that play outside of their homes . This lead containing soil particles get on the child's hands or clothing and end up in the child's mouth. After the build up of so much lead it leads to lead poison. Lead poisoning has been an issue since the early 1900s, when the use of lead started being banned from the manufacturing of paint in foreign countries such as Australia. Unfortunately, the United States did not start banning it until 1978, when it finally became illegal in our nation. Today 90% of the lead in the atmosphere comes from the burning of gasoline. This problem has been a large issue since the 1920s, when the Environmental Protection Agency started making laws on the amount of lead allowed in gasoline.
chain. The use of lead in gasoline was phased out in '73 which caused lead
EPA. (2009, December 29). Retrieved January 15, 2011, from Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for Children's Health: http://www.epa.gov/teach/
There are differences in the primary routes of exposure, Babies and children can swallow lead through breast feeding. They can be exposed to lead in the womb if their mothers have lead in their bodies. In children ingestion is the major route of exposure. Lead paint is the major source. In older houses as the lead paint deteriorates, peels, chips or is...
Arsenic is the 20th most common element in the earth’s crust and can be found naturally in our environment. There is around 0.006 to 0.03 ppm or arsenic distributed in seawater, and 20 ppm of arsenic in soil (before pesticides). Every human will ingest about 0.5 to 1 mg of arsenic in a day from food and water, because arsenic is present in higher quantities in se...
The tradeoffs of using gasoline for cars are large emission of carbon dioxide and required large amount of chemical t...
Due to an above average level of poverty, many homes in New Orleans had very high levels of lead and arsenic in them. (Pastor) This combined with eighty percent of the city being flooded, released significant amounts of lead and arsenic into the environment which still exist today. Soil samples taken before and after Katrina showed elevated levels of lead, iron and arsenic. (Reible)A new study on one-hundred and nine households found that sixty-one percent had lead measurements above federal standards with twenty-seven percent greater than one-thousand two hundred ppm which was significantly higher than the five-hundred and sixty ppm collected before Hurricane Katrina. (Rabito) These inorganic compounds are related to cancer risks of which New Orleans already has a significant problem with. This complicates the decision on when and where to conduct environmental clean-ups in New Orleans to remove the lead, iron and arsenic.
Huddie William Ledbetter also known as "Leadbelly" was an American folk singer and blues musical, most famous for his strong prominent vocals and his ability to play thetwelve-string guitar. Leadbellys astounding ability to play the guitar combined with his personal life experiences provided the foundation for his musical career. He also wrote about mainstream culture and black culture in general to express feelings of anger, sadness, and expose the wrongdoings of American society against blacks.
Gasoline fueled cars produce a number of pollutants. The most damaging pollutants that come from gasoline fueled cars are particulate matter. Particulate matter is a sequence of organic materials and inorganic substances. It includes ingredients such as lint and minerals. Nitrogen dioxide, produced when fuel is burned at high temperatures, can cause damage to the lungs and cause chest pains. One might ask, “Why are Americans still driving gasoline cars?” knowing the damage that they are subject to cause. I personally maintain that the government should push people to p...
The Clean Air Act was passed by Congress in 1970, and was revised in 1977 and by 1990 to enlarge time limits, however, has specified new methodologies for cleaning the air. By enforcing new laws, the government will guarantee that the air ought to be cleaner and therefore make public health a framework. It has been indicated that the toxic lead emissions have dropped by 98% and the figure dioxide has dropped by 35%, even the carbon monoxide dropped by 32% (2010). One ought to begin by saying that the Clean Air Act is one of the few authoritative activities planned to diminish the vicinity of brown haze, carbon dioxide, and whatever viable environmental pollution by and large. The US Clear Air Act was passed by the United States Congress in 1963 and afterward would make various different acts to help the Clear Air Act: Clean Air Act Amendment of 1966, Clean Air Extension of 1970; Clean Air Act Amendment of 1977 and Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990.
Symptoms of lead poisoning include loss of appetite, weakness, anemia, vomiting, and convulsions, sometimes leading to permanent brain damage or death. Children who ingest chips of old, lead-containing paint or are exposed to dust from the deterioration of such paint may exhibit symptoms. Levels of environmental lead considered nontoxic may also be involved in increased hypertension in a significant number of persons, according to studies released in the mid-1980s. As a result, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in recent years have been revising downward the levels of environmental lead that it would consider safe.