Lead
Description
Lead is a highly toxic metal found in small amounts in the earth’s crust. Because of its abundance, low cost, and physical properties, lead and lead compounds have been used in a wide variety of products including paint, ceramics, pipes, solders, gasoline, batteries, and cosmetics. Since 1980, federal and state regulatory standards have helped to minimize or eliminate the amount of lead in consumer products and occupational settings. Today, the most common sources of lead exposure in the United States are lead-based paint in older homes, contaminated soil, household dust, drinking water, lead crystal, and lead-glazed pottery. While extreme lead exposure can cause a variety of neurological disorders such as lack of muscular coordination, convulsions and coma, much lower lead levels have been associated with measurable changes in children’s mental development and behavior. These include hyperactivity; deficits in fine motor function, hand-eye coordination, and reaction time; and lowered performance on intelligence tests. Chronic lead exposure in adults can result in increased blood pressure, decreased fertility, cataracts, nerve disorders, muscle and joint pain, and memory or concentration problems.
Health Studies & Clinical Trials
What NIEHS is Doing on Lead
- Profile: Report on Carcinogens: Lead
- Age-Related Cognitive Decline and Lead Exposure
- Blood Lead Concentrations Less than 10 Micrograms per Deciliter and Child Intelligence at 6 Years of Age
- Calcium Supplements Lower Blood Lead in Nursing Mothers
- Changes in Blood Lead Levels Caused by Retained Bullets from Gunshot Wounds
- Child Development and Environmental Toxins (633KB)
- Does the Development of Alzheimer's Disease Start in the Prenatal Period?
- Early-life Exposure to Lead Causes Alzheimer's-Like Changes in Older Monkeys
- Lead Accumulation May Lead to Cataracts
- Lead and Age Reduce the Fertilizing Ability of Sperm
- Lead and Your Health (Spanish)
- Lead in Breast Milk
- Lead and Psychiatric Symptoms in Aging People
- Low Levels of Lead and IQ Deficits
- Rod-Shaped Eye Cells Die When Exposed to Lead
- Succimer Found Ineffective for Removing Mercury
General Information
- Evaluating Chemicals: Is It Safe? Movie (English & Spanish Versions)
- Environmental Diseases from A to Z (4MB)
- Environmental Health Perspectives, Environews by Topic: Lead
- Household Products Database: Lead
- Lead and Environmental Health - A compilation of links to websites on lead that provide an overview of the problem, glossaries and dictionaries, data and research, and literatures sources. Spanish language materials are also available.
- Lead Poisoning: Fact Sheet Library (51KB) - National Safety Council fact sheet on prevalence of lead exposure, known health effects, testing for lead in the home and reducing lead exposure.
- Lead Safe Gardening (English) (1MB) - A Wayne State University brochure describing lead-safe gardening practices
- Lead Safe Gardening (Spanish) (248KB) - A Wayne State University brochure describing lead-safe gardening practices in Spanish
- Lead and Your Health (1MB)
- Lead: How It Affects Your Body and Your Health (128KB)
For Educators
- EHP Student Edition Lesson: Arsenic and Lead Scavenger Hunt (357KB)
- EHP Student Edition Lesson: Getting the Lead Out (602KB)
- EHP Student Edition Lesson: Lead and Mercury: Comparing Two Environmental Evils? (311KB)
- EHP Student Edition Lesson: Mother's Milk - Unleaded Please (177KB)
- EHP Student Edition Lesson: Toxic Tic-Tac-To (59KB)
- EHP Student Edition Lesson: Using Chemistry to Treat Lead Poisoning (205KB)
- The Effects of Childhood Lead Poisoning and How to Reduce Lead Exposure - These resources produced by WGBH (Boston) talk about the dangers of lead, the importance of regular testing for blood lead levels, and how to prevent lead exposure. Resources includes discussion questions.
