Lead Poisoning

1. Lead Poisoning Lindsey Glennon, Dane Ellenbogen and Alex Matthews

2. What is lead poisoning? • Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems.

3. Where do you get it from? • contaminated air • water • soil • food • consumer products like: - vinyl lunchboxes -vinyl miniblinds - old paint chips -toys -bubble gum machines - paint that you have at home - decorative stained glass windows - fishing sinkers

4. Lead Poisoning -Lead is a very common thing for children to get, especially babies because they tend to chew on things. -Approximately 250,000 U.S. children aged 1-5 years have blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, the level at which CDC recommends public health actions be initiated. Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body. Because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it frequently goes unrecognized.

5. Case Study #1 • One of Dallas' largest public housing projects sat in a low-income neighborhood directly across the street from a secondary lead smelter. For many years the smelter converted used automotive batteries into lead components for resale. By all accounts, particulate emissions from the factory smokestacks literally blanketed the surrounding community with lead-bearing soot. Baron & Budd represented more than 200 families in a lawsuit that eventually closed the lead smelter and paid sizable confidential settlements to court-supervised trusts for 445 children affected by lead poisoning. • Although the damage done to these children is irreversible, the funds that were received is helping these families and children get the right medical care they need to help them. They closed the lead smelter and required the company to fund a community soil clean up prevents the community from future damage to neighborhood children.

6. Case Study #2 • A 27-year-old female nurse intravenously injected 5 mL of cigarette soakage solution that contained approximately 5.7 mg nicotine, in a suicidal attempt. Clinical manifestations consisted of nausea, palpitation, abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, and diarrhea. She remained fully conscious during this episode. About 7 hours later, she visited emergency department on foot and received fluid infusion for dehydration. She fully recovered at night of the day. This is the first documented report of acute nicotine poisoning due to intravenous injection of cigarette soakage in humans. Signs and symptoms appeared immediately after the injection, but this case seemed to be relatively mild in terms of clinical manifestation. The elimination half-life of nicotine seems to be short, that is, less than 1 hour. Therefore, if initial treatment is appropriate and the patient can survive acute phase of nicotine poisoning, prognosis is good.

7. Sources • http://baronandbudd.com/legal_services/other_toxic_substances/lead_smelter • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning • http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/ • http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/lead_poisoning.html