Official website of GRiPPA - Research Group for the Prevention of Environmental Disease - edited by Giancarlo Ugazio

Gruppo di Ricerca per la Prevenzione

della Patologia Ambientale

Research Group for the Prevention of Environmental Disease
Italiano

DYNAMICS  OF  ENVIRONMENTAL  DISEASE  THROUGHOUT  MAN'S  LIFESPAN

 

CD-2

 EMBRYO-TOXICITY OF LEAD:  ORGANIC MALFORMATION,

 ADOLESCENT CHARACTER PROBLEMS, ASOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN ADULTS  

PRE-NATAL DAMAGE CAUSED BY EXPOSURE OF THE EMBRYO

CONTENT

00

THE HUMAN BODY AND THE PLACENTA

01

THE HUMAN  FOETUS AT 21 DAYS WITH NEUROPORES IN THE PRIMITIVE NEURAL TUBE

02

ANENCEPHALY

03

SPINA BIFIDA - LEAD POISONING FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO TODAY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEAD LEVELS AND LEAD POISONING

04

THE HUMAN BODY WITH THE DISTRIBUTION AREAS OF EXOGENOUS LEAD

05

THE TRANSIT FUNCTION OF THE HUMAN PLACENTA

06

TABLE OF THE MOST COMMON MALFORMATIONS

07

NEUROLOGICAL LESIONS AND ADOLESCENT CHARACTER PROBLEMS

08

TABLE OF THE EVOLUTION IN THE ADULT OF ADOLESCENT CHARACTER  PROBLEMS: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ADULTS WHO HAD CHARACTER  PROBLEMS AS CHILDREN

OCCUPATIONAL ORIGINS OF LEAD
09 MINING
10 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SMELTING
11 LEAD SCRAP (old  batteries)
12 BULLETS AND MUNITIONS FOR FIREARMS
13 LEAD-BASED PAINTS (red lead, litharge, white lead, yellow chrome)
14 ELECTRIC BATTERIES (metallic lead, lead oxide)
15

ELECTRICAL PYLONS AND CABLES, SHEATHING OF ELECTRICAL CABLE
16 LEAD PIPING
17 LEAD SEALS OF ELECTRICITY METERS
18 WELDING ALLOYS (lead) CD-2-19
19 GLAZED POTTERY, LEAD-BASED CRYSTAL
20 ADDITIVES FOR PLASTIC MATERIALS AND RUBBER (lead oleate or stearate)
21 PESTICIDES (lead arsenate)
22

SEMI-CONDUCTORS, PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS (lead sulphide or lead selenate)
23 LUBRICANT OILS (lead naphthenate)
24 PRINT TYPE
25 CLEANING OF ELECTROSTATIC FILTERS FOR INCINERATORS

ORIGIN OF LEAD NOT USED IN WORKING PROCESSES
26 FOODSTUFFS PRODUCED IN POLLUTED AREAS
27 COSMETICS: EYE SHADOW
28 INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS AND DISCHARGED WASTE
29 EXHAUST FUMES OF LEADED PETROL VEHICLES
30 OLD LEAD PIPING AND TANKS
31 POTTERY GLAZED WITH LEAD SALTS  AND LEAD CRYSTAL
32

FOOD CONTAINED IN CANS WELDED WITH LEAD ALLOYS OR PREPARED IN TIN CONTAINERS WITH TIN-LEAD ALLOYS
33 LEAD TOYS OR TOYS PAINTED WITH LEAD PAINT
34

PEELING LEAD PAINT (swallowed or inhaled)

35

SPIRITS DISTILLED FROM COOLANTS (old car radiators) MOONSHINE

36

WINE PRODUCED FROM GRAPES STORED IN METAL CONTAINERS TREATED WITH RED LEAD
37 FOLK MEDICINE (herbal teas of oriental origin)
38 LEAD-CONTAINING SAND USED IN SAND-BLASTING  WALLS OF   BUILDINGS
39 CALCIUM DRUGS FROM NATURAL POWDERS
40 ELECTRICAL BATTERIES DESTROYED IN INCINERATORS

41

LEAD RESIDUES FROM LEADED PETROL EXHAUST FUMES BLOWN INTO THE AIR BY STREET CLEANERS WHEN REMOVING FALLEN LEAVES
42

LEAD BULLETS LODGED  IN THE MUSCLE AFTER HUNTING  ACCIDENTS
43 JOGGING AND SITTING IN OUTDOOR CAFES IN URBAN AREAS
44

BABY FOOD PREPARED WITH WATER STERILISED IN KETTLES  WELDED WITH LEAD ALLOYS

 
 

 

Summary

  Throughout history lead has been not only an element on Mendeleev’s periodic table and a precious technological tool, but also a perverse pathogen for human health.

Not only does it produce in the human adult a wide range of problems that go under the name lead poisoning, but it also affects the embryo and foetus, long before birth, in a biological state which for many people does not yet constitute the status of human being, but which is already exposed to environmental poisons – the surreptitious cause of health disasters.

In these very delicate circumstances, lead toxicity may be the cause of morphological changes of various degrees of seriousness, and even lethal for the foetus, or damage some of the most delicate functions of the central nervous system, which have an effect on the child’s character in such ways as: hyperexcitability, lack of attention and loss of potential intelligence. These sometimes lead in adulthood to asocial, antisocial or even criminal behaviour.

Such manifestations of lead embryo-toxicity,  supported by the rich scientific and biomedical literature currently available on the subject, make lead poisoning a public enemy that cannot be underestimated or overlooked when one decides on a serious programme of primary prevention of environmental disease.

After an overview of the syndrome of lead poisoning, we try to give an answer to the simple question: “Where does lead come from, when and how can it attack us and do us harm?

Essentially awareness is the basic philosophy expressed this CD, a work suggested by questions put to the author by persons with no knowledge of biomedical science but interested personally as patients or potential patients. It has been called “What not to do or how to do it better?” In fact there is another aspect to consider, every environmental risk corresponds to a choice and purposeful behaviour. They could guarantee our contemporaries and descendants a better environment, along with considerable advantages for its interface: health.

 
 

 

 

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