32 Facts About Lead poisoning

Lead poisoning, known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body.

Features of Lead poisoning differ depending on whether the agent is an organic compound, or an inorganic one.

Organic lead poisoning is very rare, because countries across the world have phased out the use of organic lead compounds as gasoline additives, but such compounds are still used in industrial settings.

Lead poisoning affects every one of the body's organ systems, especially the nervous system, but the bones and teeth, the kidneys, and the cardiovascular, immune, and reproductive systems.

Lead poisoning is able to pass through the placenta and into breast milk, and blood lead levels in mothers and infants are usually similar.

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Lead poisoning affects the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system.

Lead poisoning was first added to gasoline in 1923, as it helped keep car engines healthy.

Lead poisoning can be found in products such as kohl, an ancient cosmetic from the Middle East, South Asia, and parts of Africa that has many other names; and from some toys.

Lead poisoning is commonly incorporated into herbal remedies such as Indian Ayurvedic preparations and remedies of Chinese origin.

Lead poisoning birdshot is banned in some areas, but this is primarily for the benefit of the birds and their predators, rather than humans.

Lead poisoning is removed from the body very slowly, mainly through urine.

Lead poisoning has no known physiologically relevant role in the body, and its harmful effects are myriad.

Lead poisoning interferes with DNA transcription, enzymes that help in the synthesis of vitamin D, and enzymes that maintain the integrity of the cell membrane.

Lead poisoning interferes with metabolism of bones and teeth and alters the permeability of blood vessels and collagen synthesis.

Lead poisoning exposure has been associated with a decrease in activity of immune cells such as polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Lead poisoning interferes with the normal metabolism of calcium in cells and causes it to build up within them.

Lead poisoning is able to bind to and interact with many of the same enzymes as these metals but, due to its differing chemistry, does not properly function as a cofactor, thus interfering with the enzyme's ability to catalyze its normal reaction or reactions.

Lead poisoning is able to pass through the endothelial cells at the blood brain barrier because it can substitute for calcium ions and be taken up by calcium-ATPase pumps.

Lead poisoning interferes with the normal development of a child's brain and nervous system; therefore children are at greater risk of lead neurotoxicity than adults are.

Conditions that present similarly and must be ruled out in diagnosing lead poisoning include carpal tunnel syndrome, Guillain–Barre syndrome, renal colic, appendicitis, encephalitis in adults, and viral gastroenteritis in children.

Treatment of organic lead poisoning involves removing the lead compound from the skin, preventing further exposure, treating seizures, and possibly chelation therapy for people with high blood lead concentrations.

The chelating agents used for treatment of lead poisoning are edetate disodium calcium, dimercaprol, which are injected, and succimer and d-penicillamine, which are administered orally.

Lead poisoning is one of the largest environmental medicine problems in terms of numbers of people exposed and the public health toll it takes.

About one fifth of the world's disease burden from lead poisoning occurs in the Western Pacific, and another fifth is in Southeast Asia.

Lead poisoning is considered a possible human carcinogen based on evidence from animal studies.

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Lead poisoning was among the first known and most widely studied work regarding environmental hazards.

Lead poisoning was used extensively in Roman aqueducts from about 500 BC to 300 AD.

Lead poisoning had noticed that monks who did not drink wine were healthy, while wine drinkers developed colic, and traced the cause to sugar of lead, made by simmering litharge with vinegar.

Lead poisoning was added to cheap wine illegally in the 18th and early 19th centuries as a sweetener.

The composer Beethoven, a heavy wine drinker, had elevated lead levels possibly due to this; the cause of his death is controversial, but lead poisoning is a contender as a factor.

An important step in the understanding of childhood lead poisoning occurred when toxicity in children from lead paint was recognized in Australia in 1897.

Lead poisoning shot has been banned for hunting waterfowl in several countries, including the US in 1991 and Canada in 1997.