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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| warren | "Thank you for the links and the explanations!!! " | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "We also used graphite furnace AA, also called GFAA. One common analytical instrument is ICP (inductively coupled plasma). I've used them a couple..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "Another reference. "Some recent developments in atomic fluorescence spectrosopy" by T.S.West Analytical Chemistry, ( presented at 26 th internati..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "Here are a couple of reference: "Studies in atomic fluorescence spectroscopy -III:microwave excited electrodeless discharge tubes as spectral sour..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| warren | "Hmm... I guess it seems like a tough setup for my skill set. What does the microwave version look like? " | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "You know, getting a couple of these that could be "disposable" might not be a bad idea. Working with 400 volts isn't a terribly high voltage, but ..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "That looks like a hollow cathode lamp. We used perkin elmer, not fisher, so there could be differences. The lamp should have the element it can d..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "Aanalyst (a model of atomic absorption spectrometer that we had)hollow cathode lamps new are running for about $350. So when there are hollow cat..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "That looks like a hollow cathode lamp. But there are other kinds. It should have the element on the base plus usually the operating current range..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| warren | "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0039914070800819 " | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| warren | "Interesting. It's like a high power version of this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/324819370181 Does this take high voltage to run? " | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "I worked a lot on lead with atomic aborpion(AA) and related techniques. The two lead lines we normally used were 283 nm and 214 nm. Of course, the..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "The first article from" research gate "is a little more interesting. It has lead forming something similar to chelates. The summary of the articl..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "The last paper mentioned above is(I think) using chemiluminesence to generate the light(Flouescent detection of lead in... ByYan- Shiuan Wu, Et a..." | Read more » | almost 3 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | "You have to be careful on how different methods work. The answers can vary dramatically from method to method. For example, if atomic absorption(..." | Read more » | almost 4 years ago | |||
| read_holman | " @smmontgom -- I'd like to reference your digital "poster" and it's findings. When was your study performed? (month and year; though will take just..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| Ag8n | " The United States pharm. had a lot of tests for lead and other elements( like arsenic and barium). You can't argue with its scientific validity- ..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| read_holman | "Hi @smmontgom - Good to see your name again! And thanks for this. You did share this with me at point, though a number of months ago now. It fell o..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| read_holman | "Found this which is relevant: Lead-based paint testing technologies: summary of an EPA/HUD field study (1999) http://abacus.bates.edu/~raustin/Flu..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| read_holman | "An update: I haven't received any new studies yet aside from those I already knew of and linked to above: Three EPA funded evaluations (done in ~20..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| smmontgom | "Hi @read_holman, I may have already shared this with you, but these are results we got with strips from Silver Lake Research (which is the OEM for ..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| read_holman | " Hi @warren -- oh yeah you pointed me to this page a few weeks ago. I think the merging / linking of content is fine. I've kept wanting to go back ..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| warren | " Hi @read_holman - there's some information (not nearly as much as you're asking for) up at https://publiclab.org/common-water-contaminants#Lead, w..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
| read_holman | "Thanks @Ag8n - Really appreciate the time you spent typing all of this out. I'm going to try to convert your comments into the spreadsheet format, ..." | Read more » | over 6 years ago |