What Is Lead Poisoning?

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Lead Poisoning Some of our houses are doing more damage than you may think. Lead poisoning is considered a disease that affects all living organisms in our environment. It occurs when a living organism ingests or breathes in high amounts of lead acetate. Lead acetate is a chemical found in the metal lead. Lead was used as a pigment in old paint and solder as well as a colorant in many other industrial applications (Safety Memos, 2014). Lead poisoning is mostly onset by old paints and solder from water pipes. Old paint can flake off of walls and turn to a fine dust that can be breathed in or land in food. Lead from water pipes can leach into the water and be ingested that way. Lead poisoning in humans primarily affects children living …show more content…
This is mainly a factor of health, because lead poisoning is a disease and it is very detrimental to the health of humans. Lead poisoning is a global issue, with most of the burden of the disease in Southeast Asia, Western Pacific, and Eastern Mediterranean regions (WHO, 2015). However, the disease and its effects are not limited to just these areas, as lead wasn’t found to be a toxin until the 1980s.
Lead is a naturally occurring toxic metal found in the earth’s crust, and an element on the periodic table (WHO, 2015). Its atomic number is 82, and its chemical symbol is Pb. Lead has a weighted average atomic mass of 207.2 amu, coming from a total of 13 different isotopes. Four of these isotopes are stable, and the rest have radioactive half-lives. An atom of lead contains 82 protons, 82 electrons, and 125 neutrons. It has a density of 11.34 g/cm3 at 293 Kelvins (Bentor, 2012). …show more content…
It is a neurotoxin, causing problems by blocking glutamate receptors and therefore inhibiting learning. It also causes various problems in many other parts of the body, such as the lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys because it displaces other metals from doing their jobs correctly. These are necessary metals in the body such as calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). For example, the enzyme delta-aminolaevulinate dehydratase loses its zinc in the presence of lead. Because of this, the biosynthesis of heme is blocked. Heme is the iron-binding block of hemoglobin molecules, which carry oxygen through the bloodstream (Crow, 2007). This entire process is inhibited in the presence of lead, and organs throughout the body become short of oxygen. This is called lead poisoning. Symptoms of the disease in children include developmental delay, learning difficulties, irritability, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, sluggishness/fatigue, abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, and hearing loss (Perez, 2015). This is a very extensive list due to just how dangerous lead poisoning can be in children. It even has very high chances of scarring them for life: the prognosis isn’t very bright. Children who have been exposed to high concentrations of lead typically have a limited IQ and attention span, limited nerve and muscle function, and are at a higher risk for developing other health problems in the
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