Lead is a heavy metal that is common in our everyday environment. Historically it has been used in paints, pipes (including connectors/fittings), and gasoline among other places. Today, most industrial uses are limited to lead-acid batteries, a growing market. Lead is a known toxin for humans. Health effects range from mild health irritations and decreased fertility at low amounts, lower IQ and emotional/behavioral issues in milder amounts, and seizures, coma, and even death at higher amounts. ### Top exposure pathways (aka: sources of lead) include: - Paint - Soil - Dust (created by soil, paint, or emissions) - Water / Plumbing Lead may also be in toys, cosmetics, food containers, and other places, but the above are the top 4 pathways. Paint is generally recognized as the predominant source of lead. People talk quite a bit about lead in water, in part because of the crisis in Flint Michigan. Soil is a pathway that gets less attention; however, there is growing evidence that soil -- and in particular the dust that gets kicked up -- is a significant source of lead. There are no safe levels of lead for humans; any amount is a bad amount. Lead is also bioaccumulate which means that it doesn't leave your body. Small amounts add up in your body over time. -------------------- ###Top Resources on PublicLab.org Related to this Topic - [How to Test For Lead in your Environment](https://publiclab.org/notes/read_holman/04-11-2019/how-to-test-for-lead-in-your-environment) - [Evaluating Low-cost Lead Screening Products](https://publiclab.org/notes/read_holman/04-16-2019/evaluating-low-cost-lead-screening-products) - [Chemical/Analytical Methods Used When Testing for Lead](https://publiclab.org/notes/read_holman/12-12-2018/list-of-methods-for-lead-detection-monitoring) - [How much lead is legally allowed and what government agency regulates that? (link goes to CDC/ATSDR website. Scroll to Summary Table.)](https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=34&po=8) -------------------- ### Research Notes on PublicLab.org Related to this Topic [notes:lead!question:lead] ### Questions posted on PublicLab.org Related to this Topic [questions:lead] ...
| Author | Comment | Last activity | Moderation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| marlokeno | "@Greenhorns There has never been a sulfide mine that has not produced terrible environmental damage and acid runoff. My experience with mining comp..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| liz | "Great to hear from you on this serious issue. Can you call into https://publiclab.org/open-call tomorrow (or any Tuesday) at 3pm? I've been getting..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| amocorro | "@kgradow1 hope it went well!! " | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| luislit | "Hi my friend! I wish to say that this article is amazing, nice written and include approximately all important infos. I would like to see more post..." | Read more » | about 3 years ago | |||
| bhamster | " @bhamster has marked @LESBreathe as a co-author. " | Read more » | about 3 years ago | |||
| jjcreedon | "yes, we had the same issue here. Very difficult to pinpoint source. However, toxins are toxins.. This is what we did: 1.we tested (soil) in nearby ..." | Read more » | about 3 years ago | |||
| kgradow1 | "Hi @jjcreedon thank you for this! Would this be appropriate for soil conveyed to neighboring properties by wind? I think one of the constraints i..." | Read more » | about 3 years ago | |||
| amocorro | "@jjcreedon - great points around surrogate testing. Also very eye opening about the PAH's ...! " | Read more » | about 3 years ago | |||
| jjcreedon | "Why dont you do some community soil testing in areas where folks could be the most exposed? Plus, its much easier to test the soil as a surrogate f..." | Read more » | about 3 years ago | |||
| celebritymens | "Excellent piece of information which has helped me to get rid of so many misconceptions. Keep sharing the high quality content. https://www.celebri..." | Read more » | over 3 years ago | |||
| kgradow1 | "We are waiting for RIDEM (dept of environmental management) to share their test results, I'm just trying to get a sense of what typical ranges are ..." | Read more » | over 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "How do you plan on testing for lead? Initial testing would have to be by AA or ICP(I would guess). But if you get past that and are trying to fin..." | Read more » | over 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "Yes, I have experience. But it's old enough that it may not be helpful. A company made rubber stoppers for test tubes, drug stoppers, etc. The s..." | Read more » | over 3 years ago | |||
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| Engineerjaykumar | "This is interesting topic about environmental risk. " | Read more » | almost 4 years ago | |||
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| Engineerjaykumar | "We breathe in 20,000 breaths each day, according to the American Lung Association, 90 percent of which occur indoors. The air inside of our homes i..." | Read more » | about 4 years ago | |||
| mimiss | "One place to start might be monitoring the levels of particulate matter in your home. You could compare sensors across rooms to see if there are an..." | Read more » | about 4 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "Safety first. The problems you describe could be caused by a furnace not working correctly and generating carbon monoxide. Please get a carbon mo..." | Read more » | about 4 years ago | |||
| chenwilliam264 | "Wonderful publish, very useful I’m marvel why the other expert of this part do not become alert of this. You should come first your writing . I am ..." | Read more » | over 4 years ago | |||
| liz | "Hi @read_holman , can you see if your link to "Cornell University (choose “Environmental Analysis following US EPA SW-846”)" may have been updated ..." | Read more » | over 4 years ago | |||
| warren | "Hi @read_holman - just dropping some links in here after chatting! Very cool rigorous field evaluations of many many air sensors: http://www.aqmd..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago |