“His horror over lead contamination turned him into an activist, and he’s the largest reason future children will never eat lead paint chips and gas stations no longer bother to advertise ‘unleaded’ on their pumps. Thanks to Patterson’s crusade, it’s common sense today that lead paint should be banned and cars shouldn’t vaporize lead for us to breathe in and get in our hair”
Clair C. Patterson, a geochemist, made the first accurate measurement of Earth's age and raised the alarm about dangerous levels of lead in the environment. He addressed the toxicity and potential danger of lead poisoning that cannot be undermined. Through the dating of rocks, Patterson discovered the amount of lead in the environment was much higher than of the lead in the sediment rocks, which had indicated that humans were pumping too much lead into the environment. Therefore, he attacked governments and large corps for the excessive use of lead in the environment which came to be known as the Pattern's crusade. So let’s trace back to the origin of the chemical element lead, its purpose, why is lead so “horrifying” and how exactly lead poisoning works.
Lead (Pb) is a soft, malleable silver-gray metal that is found in small amounts within Earth’s crust. Lead is used and can be seen in our everyday life due to its many functions. The chemical symbol for lead, Pb, comes from the latin word Plumbum. Plumbum means waterworks and it refers back to ancient times, when metal was used for the construction of water pipes. One example that proves lead to be dangerous is the fact that it is said that it contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Due to the use of lead in making water pipes, the fall of the Empire was often associated with the lead that got into the water supplies. In the past, lead was also used in white pigments for paints, ceramics, cosmetics, weapons, leaded glass or crystal, etc. However, some of the uses of lead have been banned or discouraged in the present due to its potential risk to human health. Due to our increased awareness in the dangers that lead presents and stricter environmental regulation policies, there was a significant shift in the purpose of lead. For one, lead is substituted with other material in many non-battery products such as waterworks, paint, gasoline and etc. Now, most lead is mainly used for lead-acid batteries. Other uses includes ammunition, the dangerous supply or quantity of bullets and shells, oxides in glass or ceramics.
The recognition of lead toxicity was first recorded all the way back to 2000 B.C. by Greek Philosopher Nikander in 250 B.C; he reported on the Colic and anemia resulting from lead poisoning. Colic is a severe abdominal pain, often caused by spasm, obstruction, or distention of any of the hollow vescera, an abdominal organ such as intestine while Anemia is a chronic disease in which the blood doesn't have enough healthy red blood cells. These conditions was the earliest description of lead poisoning found, it wasn’t until 20th century that the health risks of lead were better understood by scientists. So what exactly is lead poisoning? Lead poisoning is the condition in which lead builds up in the human body (can be over months or over years. It is a highly fatal condition that young children are especially vulnerable to. Since lead is extremely dangerous in the form of dusts or fumes, you can not spy the particles with your naked eyes. Further, lead in the air can be easily inhaled and swallowed if they get on anything that you put in your mouth. Hence it is not hard to see why younger children are more high in risk for lead poisoning. Children affected with lead poisoning syndrome can have developmental delays, learning difficulties, loss of appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain, and several other serious consequences. Although children and babies are more likely to get lead poisoning syndrome, it is also fatal to adults since it can result in high blood pressure, joint and muscle pain, difficulties with memory or concentration, abdominal pain, and such. In women, lead poisoning syndrome can also cause miscarriage or premature birth.
Lead poisoning happens because lead toxicity affects every organ system in the human body. Lead does not have any biological functions, meaning there is no necessary reason for it to occur in the human body. When lead enters the human body, it has the ability to inhibit or mimic the actions of calcium, the most common mineral found in human body that carries out many cell functions (it can also bind with zinc and iron). This is due to the similarities such as that both elements are metals that form a 2+ charge. For that reason, lead can be recognized as calcium when entering human body in which ends up being stored in the bones and blood (both contains high level of calcium), where lead can be distributed to the soft tissues of organs in the human body such as heart, brain, liver, lungs, and more. Be aware that while an adult can be exposed to 10-15 percent of lead in the digestive system; children, pregnant woman, and those that are vulnerable, can absorb up to 50 percent! Depending on where lead is in the body, it stays for a different period of time, the half life of lead in the blood, the amount of time for half of the lead to be excreted, in the blood is 25 days to 40 days in soft tissues or as long as 10 years in the bone/teeth! However, even if most lead is not stored in the bone permanently, it is a source of long-term internal exposure to the body since lead can accumulates in the bone over the lifetime. As one can see, lead is not even slightly close to being beneficial to the human body.
:) Fun fact: The “lead” pencil you write with does not actually contain lead. It is mainly made of non-toxic graphite. This is all because of our increase concern and awareness of the potential health risks it sustain and the effects it has to young children especially (Most of us probably have bite off a #2 pencils when we’re young...or... we still do). Be aware, there is no known level of exposure to lead that is actually safe, both too little and too much can affect you!
“Once you learn about it, it makes sense. Of course you shouldn’t be using lead.”- Bryan Bedrosian
