Lead is a highly toxic metal found in small amounts in the earth's crust. Because of its relative abundance, low cost, and physical properties, lead and lead based compounds are frequently used in a wide variety of products including paint, ceramics, pipes, solders, gasoline, batteries, and cosmetics.
Both adults and children can suffer from the effects of lead poisoning, but childhood lead poisoning is much more frequent. Lead poisoning leads to a medical condition, also known as saturnism or plumbism (which is a toxic condition produced by the absorption of excessive lead into the system) or painter's colic, caused by increased blood lead levels. Lead may cause irreversible neurological damage as well as renal disease, cardiovascular effects, and reproductive toxicity.
Lead contamination can happen through deteriorating paint, household dust, bare soil, air, drinking water, food, ceramics, home remedies, hair dyes and other cosmetics. While lead paint that is in intact condition does not pose an immediate concern, lead paint that is allowed to deteriorate creating a lead-based paint hazard. It can contaminate household dust as well as bare soil around the house. In either situation, any person or animal that comes into contact with lead-contaminated dust or soil is easily poisoned. All it takes is the lead dust equivalent of a single grain of salt for a child to register an elevated blood lead level.
The lead produced by vehicle emissions continue to pose a serious threat even today as lead use goes unchecked in many countries across the globe. Much of the lead emitted by vehicles is directly inhaled by humans and a significant part remains in the soil where it keeps on accumulating over the years, especially near busy roads & highways. Not just humans, plants and animals are also equally contaminated with lead and may enter our food chain. Even our pets can come into contact with lead-contaminated soil and cause human exposure to lead.
The symptoms of chronic lead poisoning include neurological problems, such as reduced cognitive abilities, or nausea, abdominal pain, irritability, insomnia, metal taste in oral cavity, excess lethargy or hyperactivity, headache and, in extreme cases, seizure and coma.
Lead is known to affect peripheral and central nervous system. The most common sign of peripheral neuropathy due to chronic lead poisoning is painless wristdrop i.e. weakness of the extensor muscles of hand which usually develops after many weeks of exposure to lead. A direct link between early lead exposure & learning disability has been confirmed by multiple studies & child advocacy groups.
In humans, lead toxicity sometimes causes the formation of a bluish line along the gums, which is known as the "Burton's line", although it is quite uncommon in teenagers. Blood film examination may reveal "basophilic stippling" of red blood cells, as well as the changes normally associated with iron deficiency anemia i.e. microcytosis & hypochromia.
Lead has no known biological role in the body. The toxicity comes from its ability to mimic other biologically important metals, the most notable of which are calcium, iron and zinc. Lead is able to bind to and interact with the same proteins and molecules which can bind with metals and this interaction may cause those molecules to function differently. As a result, some set of reactions fail to attain completion e.g. disability of an enzyme function which is necessary for certain biological process.
Children's Toys and Lead Paint
Most often, the lead danger present in toys comes from their paint. Ironically, although lead-based paint was banned from residential use by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1978, many children's toys, particularly those made in China, are found to contain levels of lead in excess of that allowed.
Lead in paint resists moisture, increases durability, speeds drying, and allows the pain to retain a fresh appearance, factors which presumably account for its persisted use despite its known toxicity. Parents can help keep their children safe by regularly checking recall lists to see if their households have any hazardous toys. A comprehensive, month-by-month list is available through CPSC's Product Safety and Recall News.
Symptoms of Lead Poisoning in Children
Children are particularly susceptible to the effects of lead poisoning, which involves the accumulation of lead in their bodies over time. Although mere contact with items containing lead does not in itself pose a threat, when children put toys with lead paint in their mouths (which young children are apt to do), lead lodges in their developing nervous systems, poisoning tissues and enzymes. And even a small amount of lead is enough to cause harm in young children.
Frighteningly, signs and symptoms of lead poisoning are often non-specific (they could be attributed to any number of typical childhood ailments) and are not apparent until lead levels have reached dangerous proportions. Symptoms of lead poisoning in children include weight loss, sluggishness, abdominal cramps, vomiting, loss of appetite, paleness, and constipation. Eventually, lead poisoning can lead to learning difficulties and even lowered intelligence.
Children younger than six are even more vulnerable. Attention deficit disorders, behavioral problems, stunted growth, hearing loss, kidney damage, and learning disabilities can result from even very low levels of exposure; high levels of exposure can cause mental retardation, comas, and even death.
Lead Dust & Other Sources of Lead Poisoning
Toys are not the only culprits of lead poisoning. Lead plumbing, lead-contaminated dirt, leaded crystal decanters, and painted ceramic dishware are also sources of the toxin. However, lead-based paint in older homes is the greatest cause for worry.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, about 38 million American homes still contain lead paint. Twenty-four million of these have lead paint that is in the most potentially harmful condition ? deterioration. Paint chips ingested by children, or lead paint on places that children could chew, such as window sills, are one source of danger. But more sinister is the lead dust that threatens not only children, but adults as well.
Lead makes its way into the body not only through the stomach but also through the lungs, and inhaled lead is just as dangerous as ingested lead. Lead poisoning through lead dust is typically the cause of toxicity in adults, although much greater levels of exposure are necessary to produce adverse effects in adults as compared to children.
Symptoms of lead poisoning in adults include headache; abdominal pain; memory loss; mood disorders; pain, numbness, or tingling of the extremities; muscular weakness; and reproductive harm. Pregnant women are especially at risk: pregnancy releases lead that has accumulated in the mother's body into her bloodstream and can expose the fetus to lead as well.
Lead Paint in the Home
The only way to find out if your home's paint contains lead (and if was built before 1978, it probably does) is to test for it. If it does, the next step is to take the proper precautions in order to keep your household safe.
First, check the paint for any damage such as peeling, chipping, chalking, or cracking. Damaged paint creates lead dust, which contaminates the air quality of your home. Actions such as opening and closing a window or door that has lead paint, or even just the normal wear and tear on banisters or railings produces lead dust. Regular vacuuming with a vacuum cleaner equipped with a HEPA filter will trap lead particles.
It's actually quite important to repair damaged surfaces; simply painting over them is not a permanent solution. Steps should be taken to replace the paint with safer materials.
Keep in mind that improperly removed lead spreads even more lead dust around the house and poses a greater hazard to your family. This danger is particularly relevant when remodeling or renovating a home containing lead-based paint.
In order to minimize the amount of lead dust and fumes, do not use a propane torch, heat gun, dry scraper, dry sandpaper, or a belt-sander. If possible, move your family to another location for the duration of the renovation; if this is impossible, make sure that the work area is sealed off. While work is in progress, anyone who enters the work area should be sure to wear a mask in order to keep from inhaling lead dust.
To prepare for your family's return to the newly renovated living space, clean surfaces that may be contaminated by lead dust, making sure to wear a mask. Wash any items, especially toys such as stuffed animals, that may have come into contact with the dust. Using a HEPA air purifier is also a good idea, both during renovation and after, as it will capture lead particles and reduce your family's risk of lead poisoning by inhalation.
In addition to these precautions during periods of reconstruction, the following routine measures can be taken to protect your family from lead poisoning:
- Check a toy recall list regularly, and also check your children's toys to make sure none of them are on recall lists.
- Maintain a clean environment in your home by wiping floors, window frames and sills, and other surfaces on a weekly basis.
- Vacuum with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner to trap lead dust particles that come either from paint or from contaminated soil that's tracked inside. HEPA air purifiers also eliminate lead dust as well as other toxic substances.
- Wash children's hands often, especially before they eat and prior to naptime or bedtime.
- Wash children's toys, stuffed animals, bottles, pacifiers, and other toys regularly.
- Don't allow children to chew on window sills, railings, or other painted surfaces.
- Finally, ensure that your children eat nutritious meals that are high in iron and calcium. Children with such diets absorb less lead.
Both Tarun Gupta & M. Scott Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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