r.a.c.e

Residents against contaminated environments

 

 

 

Effects of Lead

The pictured young child from Patton St was taken to Adelaide for testing where he was diagnosed as suffering "Lead Intoxication"

The effects of lead are well documented, Children as well as adults in Broken Hill have been suffering these effects for years, but there is a culture here that you don't hear about it. And even many of our Drs will not do lead or heavy metal testing regardless of the fact that many of the symptoms people suffer are recognized as consistent with lead intoxication. Effects in children generally occur at lower blood lead levels than in adults.The developing nervous system in children is affected adversely by blood lead levels of less than 10 µg/dL.

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. It interferes with the development of the nervous system and is therefore particularly toxic to children, causing potentially permanent learning and behavior disorders. Symptoms include abdominal pain, headache, anemia, irritability, and in severe cases seizures, coma, and death.

Broken Hill has a very high instance of these symptoms, and many people probably don't even realize that they have been suffering the effects of lead. A comprehensive list of symptoms can be found here

Routes of exposure to lead include contaminated air, water, soil, food, and consumer products. Occupational exposure is a common cause of lead poisoning in adults. Humans have been mining and using this heavy metal for thousands of years, poisoning themselves, and the residents of mining towns like Broken Hill in the process.

Although lead poisoning is one of the oldest known work and environmental hazards, the modern understanding of the small amount of lead necessary to cause harm did not come about until the latter half of the 20th century. No safe threshold for lead exposure has been discovered—that is, there is no known amount of lead that is too small to cause the body harm.

Broken Hill has a very high instance of these symptoms, and many people probably don't even realize that they have been suffering the effects of lead as tests are generally not done on adults. But if they were we would have a better understanding of how much lead is in our environment and who needs to take precautions to absorb as little of it as possible. A comprehensive list of symptoms can be found here