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VPC - Poisonous Pastime - Section One Page 3 of 16 Human beings can be exposed to lead from breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or ingesting dust or soil that contains lead dust or particles of lead. The effects of lead are the same no matter how it gets into the body, although how the body processes lead ingested in different ways varies. For example, most of the lead inhaled into the lungs moves into the blood stream, where it is circulated throughout the body and stored in various body organs, tissues, and bone. On the other hand, very little lead that is swallowed by adults enters the blood stream. However, much more lead that is swallowed by children enters the bloodstream than in adults, and children are much more prone to this form of ingestion. Although some of the lead in the bloodstream is filtered out and excreted from the body, the remainder is stored, most of it in bone but some also in soft tissues. The level of this stored lead increases with chronic exposure. The victim may not be aware of it, since there is often no "bright line" at which obvious symptoms appear,9 but he or she is slowly being poisoned, suffering long- term, chronic, and irreversible damage. The effects of lead poisoning include: damage to the brain and central nervous system; kidney disease; high blood pressure; anemia; and damage to the reproductive system, including decreased sex drive, abnormal menstrual periods, impotence, premature ejaculation, sterility, reduction in number of sperm cells, and damage to sperm cells resulting in birth defects, miscarriage, and stillbirth. Effects on women and children. Lead is particularly harmful to the rapidly developing brains and nervous systems of fetuses and young children. This harm has been well -studied in actual human cases, not mere theoretical calculations, animal studies, or academic conjecture.8 Most strikingly, the level of lead known to be toxic to children has shifted downward since the 1970s as health investigators have developed more sensitive instruments and better study designs. Also, children are at a higher risk because they normally have more hand-to-mouth activity than adults (thus ingesting lead -contaminated dust, for example) and because their bodies absorb lead more readily than adult bodies. Because multiple low-level lead input can result in significant overexposure, it is often difficult to pinpoint all the sources contributing to a given child's overexposure. Contaminated house dust is known to be a major source. "Take-home" exposure to children also results when adults launder contaminated clothing with the rest of the family's wash, track in dust, or bring contaminated materials home. Unfortunately, like adults, most lead -poisoned children do not exhibit obvious symptoms. Their protection hinges on vigilant parents and aggressive public health authorities. Nevertheless, these poisoned children suffer a particular harm that will handicap them for life —lowered intelligence. A number of studies have shown conclusively that children's IQ scores are inversely related to lead exposure. Moreover, the decrease in IQ scores has a direct and serious practical impact: a substantial increase in the number of children with severe intellectual deficits and a decrease in children with superior skills. "It makes you stupid," in the words of one lead testing expert, and the damage is irreversible.9 http://www.vpc.org/studies/leadone.htm 2/5/2014