Having highlighted a recent paper on the presence of Lead in game, I have decided to commence a series of specialised ‘limelights’ on the effects of Lead bullets/pellets in humans as a result of game hunting. However, before I address my assignment, I shall first provide a succinct background on Lead’s toxicity.
Inception
For thousands of years, Lead has been widely extracted and used by mankind, mainly due to the availability of its many ores as well as its malleability. In fact, Lead used to be the second most used metal (after Iron).
Lead’s toxicity
Despite its many benefits, Lead’s detrimental effects of morbidity and mortality in humans and animals have been demonstrated by numerous studies. These vary from mild manifestations (such as fatigue, emotional irritability, and insomnia) to the fatal conclusion of death. Published studies have established the following:
- reduced somatic growth (Hauser et al, 2008)
- impaired motor function (Cecil et al, 2008)
- decreased brain volume (Cecil et al, 2008)
- permanent cognitive damage, attention and behavioural dysfunction/problems, impaired cognitive function (Needleman et al, 2002; Canfield et al, 2003; Lanphear et al, 2005; Braun et al, 2006; Schnaas et al, 2006; Cecil et al, 2008; Jusko et al, 2008; Wright et al, 2008)
- reproductive damage, including spontaneous abortion (Borja-Aburto et al, 1999)
- nephropathy (Ekong et al, 2006)
- cancer and cardiovascular disease (Lustberg and Silbergeld, 2002; Menke et al, 2006)
- and even criminal behavior (Needleman et al, 2002; Wright et al, 2008).
A great danger of Lead toxicity is that the symptoms may lag physiological changes, i.e. the affected individual may remain unaware of the danger (similar to the effect of cholesterol). Lead in the blood does not excrete and a major proportion sequesters in soft tissues and bone from where it may be switched on especially during pregnancy (Tellez-Rojo et al, 2004) or old age (Schwartz and Stewart, 2007).
Over the past 50 years, as a result of new studies revealing the toxic effects of Lead at lower levels, the benchmark levels have declined (60 μg/dL in 1960; 25 μg/dL in 1985; and, 10 μg/dL in 1991) (Needleman, 2004). And although the current CDC benchmark level is 10 μg/dL, the published studies indicate that it would be inane to consider even a trifling level of Lead exposure as being harmless (Bellinger and Bellinger, 2006)- for instance, Lanphear et al (2005) has associated maximal blood Lead levels lower than 7.5 μg/dL with permanent cognitive damage and intellectual deficits in children, whilst Menke et al (2006) associated 2 µg/dL as having increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in adults.
Foetuses, children, and pregnant women face the greatest risk (Schnaas et al, 2006; Iqbal et al, 2009).
References:
Borja-Aburto VH, Hertz-Picciotto I, Rojas Lopez M, Farias P, Rios C, & Blanco J (1999). Blood lead levels measured prospectively and risk of spontaneous abortion. American journal of epidemiology, 150 (6), 590-7 PMID: 10489998
Lustberg, M. (2002). Blood Lead Levels and Mortality Archives of Internal Medicine, 162 (21), 2443-2449 DOI: 10.1001/archinte.162.21.2443
Needleman HL, McFarland C, Ness RB, Fienberg SE, & Tobin MJ (2002). Bone lead levels in adjudicated delinquents. A case control study. Neurotoxicology and teratology, 24 (6), 711-7 PMID: 12460653
Canfield, R., Henderson, C., Cory-Slechta, D., Cox, C., Jusko, T., & Lanphear, B. (2003). Intellectual Impairment in Children with Blood Lead Concentrations below 10 μg per Deciliter New England Journal of Medicine, 348 (16), 1517-1526 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa022848
Needleman, H (2004). Lead poisoning Ann. Rev. Med (55), 209-222
Téllez-Rojo MM, Hernández-Avila M, Lamadrid-Figueroa H, Smith D, Hernández-Cadena L, Mercado A, Aro A, Schwartz J, & Hu H (2004). Impact of bone lead and bone resorption on plasma and whole blood lead levels during pregnancy. American journal of epidemiology, 160 (7), 668-78 PMID: 15383411
Lanphear BP, Hornung R, Khoury J, Yolton K, Baghurst P, Bellinger DC, Canfield RL, Dietrich KN, Bornschein R, Greene T, Rothenberg SJ, Needleman HL, Schnaas L, Wasserman G, Graziano J, & Roberts R (2005). Low-level environmental lead exposure and children's intellectual function: an international pooled analysis. Environmental health perspectives, 113 (7), 894-9 PMID: 16002379
Bellinger DC, & Bellinger AM (2006). Childhood lead poisoning: the torturous path from science to policy. The Journal of clinical investigation, 116 (4), 853-7 PMID: 16585952
Braun JM, Kahn RS, Froehlich T, Auinger P, & Lanphear BP (2006). Exposures to environmental toxicants and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in U.S. children. Environmental health perspectives, 114 (12), 1904-9 PMID: 17185283
Ekong EB, Jaar BG, & Weaver VM (2006). Lead-related nephrotoxicity: a review of the epidemiologic evidence. Kidney international, 70 (12), 2074-84 PMID: 17063179
Menke, A. (2006). Blood Lead Below 0.48 mol/L (10 g/dL) and Mortality Among US Adults Circulation, 114 (13), 1388-1394 DOI: 10.1161/circulationaha.106.628321
Schnaas, L., Rothenberg, S., Flores, M., Martinez, S., Hernandez, C., Osorio, E., Velasco, S., & Perroni, E. (2005). Reduced Intellectual Development in Children with Prenatal Lead Exposure Environmental Health Perspectives, 114 (5), 791-797 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.8552
Schwartz, B., & Stewart, W. (2007). Lead and cognitive function in adults: A questions and answers approach to a review of the evidence for cause, treatment, and prevention International Review of Psychiatry, 19 (6), 671-692 DOI: 10.1080/09540260701797936
Cecil KM, Brubaker CJ, Adler CM, Dietrich KN, Altaye M, Egelhoff JC, Wessel S, Elangovan I, Hornung R, Jarvis K, & Lanphear BP (2008). Decreased brain volume in adults with childhood lead exposure. PLoS medicine, 5 (5) PMID: 18507499
Hauser, R., Sergeyev, O., Korrick, S., Lee, M., Revich, B., Gitin, E., Burns, J., & Williams, P. (2008). Association of Blood Lead Levels with Onset of Puberty in Russian Boys Environmental Health Perspectives, 116 (7), 976-980 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.10516
Jusko TA, Henderson CR, Lanphear BP, Cory-Slechta DA, Parsons PJ, & Canfield RL (2008). Blood lead concentrations Environmental health perspectives, 116 (2), 243-8 PMID: 18288325
Wright JP, Dietrich KN, Ris MD, Hornung RW, Wessel SD, Lanphear BP, Ho M, & Rae MN (2008). Association of prenatal and childhood blood lead concentrations with criminal arrests in early adulthood. PLoS medicine, 5 (5) PMID: 18507497
Iqbal S, Blumenthal W, Kennedy C, Yip FY, Pickard S, Flanders WD, Loringer K, Kruger K, Caldwell KL, & Jean Brown M (2009). Hunting with lead: association between blood lead levels and wild game consumption. Environmental research, 109 (8), 952-9 PMID: 19747676
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This blog is published by Sarah Stephen and Ruth Stephen, and reflects the personal views of the contributors, in their individual capacities as a concerned citizen of this planet. The term 'Ecoratorio', as well as every graphic, opinion, comment, and statement expressed in this blog are the exclusive property of the blog publishers and contributors (© 2009 - present), unless explicitly stated otherwise, and should not be disseminated without the written consent of the author(s). The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily representative of the views of any school, college, University, company, organisation, city, town, state, country, or church where the author(s) have studied, worked, worshipped, or lived, and is not sponsored or endorsed by them.
This blog and its contents does not receive any sponsorship, financial or otherwise, neither is it aimed at generating any money.
The matter on this blog has been prepared for informational purposes only, and the reader(s) should not solely rely upon this information for any purpose nor should he/she assume that this information applies to his/her specific situation. Furthermore, the matter on this blog may or may not reflect the current and future trends/developments, may or may not be general or specific, accordingly, information on this blog is not promised, or guaranteed, to be correct or complete. The publishers and author(s) explicitly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken, or not taken, based on any, or all, the contents of this blog. Thus, the reader(s) is/are reading the posts and arriving at conclusions about the information, or about the author(s), or otherwise, at his/her own risk.
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