Lead is considered to be a toxic heavy metal. It occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust. However, it tends to combine with other elements to form lead compounds. (Registry, 2011). Moreover, it has no known function in the body and with excess accumulation, either acute or chronic, will cause a wide array of metabolic dysfunctions by interfering with normal metabolic functions (Analytical Research Laboratories, 2012). From a historical standpoint, most human beings if not all have accumulated some lead in their bodies over the course of their daily lives. In extreme cases, that is, when there is too much lead in the body it is known to cause lead poisoning. In order to fully understand this phenomenon, one must first acknowledge; how lead enters the body, how it is distributed, and how and if it is eliminated.
Lead is a harmful environmental pollutant. All people are at risk of lead exposure. About 30 years ago, scientists discovered that children who were exposed to lead through gasoline, dust, and paint were aggressive and had trouble learning in school. Lead can cause many health effects when people don’t pay attention and use precautions. Many people have died from or been diagnosed with lead poisoning. It is believed that Queen Elizabeth I died from lead poisoning. She used lead-based cosmetics which hurt her health and most likely caused her death. President Andrew Jackson also died from a form of lead poisoning called plumbism. Lead is very harmful and people should be serious and take precautions to be safe.
Lead is a common used element, lead can be found in all parts of our environment, the air, the soil, the water, and even inside our homes. While lead is constantly being used do we ever actually think about the impact it has on the environment, the importance of lead, where is lead from and who discovered the ways we can use it.
Lead, simply put, is an element found in the earth’s crust. It is slightly soluble in water and is transported mainly through the atmosphere (Harte et al. 1991). The human usage of lead dates back to five- thousand years ago when it was discovered that small quantities of silver could be extracted from lead ore (Harte et al. 1991). The ancient civilizations of Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece, India, and China used lead for vessels, roofs, water ducts, utensils, ornaments, and weights (Harte et al. 1991). Romans used lead acetate as an artificial sweetener in their drinks. Lead acetate, known as sugar of lead, would sweeten a vintage without causing further fermentation, which would have occurred with the addition of sweeteners like honey (Le Courteur and Burreson 2003). The Romans also used lead pipes for plumbing their homes with water. The Latin name for lead is Plumbum (like the word plumbing) hence the symbol Pb on the periodic table (August 1998). Only the rich Romans had access to water in their homes through lead pipes. Lead poisoning from th...
Although lead is found frequently in our environment, it has no known purpose in our bodies. When lead gets inside the body, the body confuses it with calcium and other essential nutrients. Calcium, aside from supporting bone health, contributes to digestion. This confusion can cause permanent damage to the health of bones and abdominal region in both children and adults (TheRealCost). Other effects of lead in our body includes learning disabilities resulting in a decreased intelligence, attention deficit disorder, behavior issues, nervous system damage, Speech and language impairment, decreased muscle and bone growth, kidney damage, high blood pressure, digestive problems, memory and concentration issues and muscle and joint pain. All of those internal complications from one of
"What is Lead." Learn About Cancer. N.p., 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. .
Lead toxicity has been an area of unending research in recent years. There have been positive and negative correlation’s relating its toxic effects to both child developmental deficiencies and adult regression problems. This review will focus on the problems associated with the children. It will discuss various routes of entry of lead into the child’s system, both prenatally and postnatally, the mechanisms employed by lead to cause the dysfunction’s, and some of the neurological deficits believed to be caused by the lead exposure.
Question: In considering the monetary estimates of childhood lead poisoning prevention, list and note the relative importance of the categories of costs and benefits that need to be considered is projecting a cost/benefit ratio. Use a standard housing remediation approach for those expenses. Where does the balance lay? What are the options and barriers to moving it forward?General Effects of Childhood Lead Poisoning When lead in inhaled it, the lead could be deposited in the bones where some essential body function occurs e.g. blood formations, calcium absorption. Lead is also transported in blood stream and deposited in muscle and nerves and blood vessels. The deposition of lead in these organs systems eventually results in the malfunctioning of these organs. These malfunctions could include decrease in bone and muscle growth/co-ordination, damage to the nervous system and other organs of the body. (KidsHealth, 1995-2010) The above mentioned effects could also impair breakdown and use of nutrients by the body, decreased hearing ability. In addition, it affects child growth, in the sense that it has been shown that children with higher blood lead levels may on average be shorter than their genetic potential by 1cm.Effect of Lead on cognition and Behavior of Children: Lead poisoning have been identified as one of the factors responsible for cognitive deficits and mental illness among children. There has been shown a correlation between Blood Lead Level and cognitive functioning in children and infant (Bruce P. Lanphear, 2005). Bruce P et al in a study of Low-level environmental lead exposure and children's intellectual function, showed an inverse relationship between blood lead concentrations and IQ score...
One of the things that a pediatrician should be focused on after reading an article about toxic toys should be the science and research that has been done on this topic. Until recently, clinicians thought that a child either had lead poising or they did not, and there was no in between. At this time, the elevated pediatric lead level was said to be a concentration in whole blood of over 60 micrograms per deciliter (Landrigan, 2000). However, pediatricians should be aware of Herbert Needleman’s research that showed that lead could alter children’s behavior and reduce their intelligence at blood lead levels lower than 60 micrograms per deciliters. Most recently, the blood lead level has been reduced to 10 micrograms per deciliters in 1991, and pediatricians should be fully aware of this (Landrigan, 2000). This decrease in blood lead level is due to the widespread removal of lead in things such as gasoline and paint (Falk, 2003). Pediatricians should know this so that they may be able to offer a small piece of comfort to the parents of their patients, because they will know that lead poising is preventable,...
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