Fact Sheet - Lead

• Lead can damage a child's central nervous system, kidneys, and reproductive system and, at higher levels, can cause coma, convulsions, and death.

• Even low levels of lead are harmful and are associated with decreased intelligence, impaired neurobehavioral development, decreased stature and growth, and impaired hearing acuity.

• Lead poisoning is entirely preventable. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 500,000 children living in the United States have lead levels in their blood that are high enough to cause irreversible damage to their health.

• Since lead contamination generally occurs from corrosion of household lead pipes, it cannot be directly detected or removed by the water system. Instead, the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) is requiring water systems to control the corrosiveness of their water if the level of lead in home taps exceeds an Action Level.

 

• Lead's Effects from Short-term Exposure: Lead can cause a variety of adverse health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for relatively short periods of time. These effects may include interference with red blood cell chemistry, delays in normal physical and mental development in babies and young children, slight deficits in the attention span, hearing, and learning abilities of children, and slight increases in the blood pressure of some adults.

• A lifetime of exposure to lead above the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) has the potential to cause stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.

• Lead is a metal found naturally in the environment as well as in manufactured products. The major sources of lead emissions have historically been motor vehicles (such as cars and trucks) and industrial sources. Due to the phase-out of leaded gasoline, metals processing is the major source of lead emissions to the air today. The highest levels of lead in air are generally found near lead smelters. Other stationary sources are waste incinerators, utilities, and lead-acid battery manufacturers.

• The amount of lead in drinking water depends heavily on the corrosivity of the water. All water is corrosive to metal plumbing materials to some degree, even water termed noncorrosive or water treated to make it less corrosive. The corrosivity of water to lead is influenced by water quality parameters such as pH, total alkalinity, dissolved inorganic carbonate, calcium, and hardness.

• Lead may enter the environment during its mining, ore processing, smelting, refining use, recycling or disposal.

• Lead may enter the atmosphere from the weathering of soil and volcanoes, but these sources are minor compared with anthropogenic (man-made) sources.

• Lead will be retained in the upper 2-5 cm of soil, especially soils with at least 5% organic matter or a pH 5 or above.

• Evidence suggests that lead uptake in fish is localized in the mucous on the epidermis, the dermis, and scales so that the availability in edible portions do not pose a human health danger.

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