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1. Sources of Lead.
Heavy metal toxicity often has symptoms that suggest many different illnesses.
- air, lead contaminated, near battery industries
- cosmetics (many)
- home remedies, some
- food storage, tin can lead soldered seams
- furniture (re-)finishing
- gasoline (persons born before 1980)
- glass, stained, artistry
- paints, lead (before 1978/95)
- pottery making
- pots, unglazed
- pots, lead glazed
- soil, lead contaminated, near highways
- water, drinking (aquifer contamination)
- water, hot (lead soldered plumbing)
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Topsoil contamination near highways may bear consideration.
Until 1970, lead was used in gasoline worldwide for its engine lubricating abilities. From its introduction to the automobile market in the mid-1920's, there was heated controversy against the use of "Ethyl" because of its potential for health damage and fatality. An absence of a suitable regulatory government department and with all of the testing being done by the auto manufacturers, tetraethyl lead was used in gasoline for over 40 years. In the late 1960's, scientists confirmed the suspicions of the earlier researchers: toxic levels accumulating in humans from air pollution presented serious health problems.
Lead particulate falls from the air onto topsoil and becomes part of the crops grown thereafter. Little is leached away by rainwater or irrigation. Whether "organically" grown or not, if the soil has heavy metal contamination, some part of that will be found in the local food supply. The decline in topsoil depth further intensifies this presence in the longer term. With the removal of much of the forest cover following settlement by Europeans into North America, an average topsoil depth of 3 feet declined over several centuries to less than 6 inches. The use of pesticides, often with heavy metal ingredients, and the industrialization of land use quickly resulted in the loss of earthworm populations and the steady decline in organic fertilizer, humus, in the soil. This presented increasing loss of bioavailable nutrients in the soil, and the food, with this absence of a former natural fertilizer. This made the use of chemical fertilizers ever more necessary for high production rates.
2. Symptoms of Lead Toxicity.
- adrenal dysfunction
- attention deficit; distractibility, restlessness
- birth irregularities: premature, miscarriage, still birth, neonatal death
- constipation, diarrhoea, anorexia
- depression, suicidal
- erectile dysfunction
- fatigue
- frigidity
- gout
- growth is slowed
- headaches
- hearing problems
- high blood pressure
- impotency
- irritability, anxiety
- learning disability
- libido / sex drive, decreased
- muscle-joint pains
- neurotransmitter release disrupted
- pituitary-thyroid endocrine system, impaired
- seizures, tremors
- stroke
- sleep disorders
- violent crimes
A Metaphor of Lead Poisoning. Excerpt from:
Lead Poisoning of Water Birds.
Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa, ON Canada K1A OH3
http://www.ec.gc.ca/cws-scf
Written by J. Gregorich, Revised by Stacey Norris, 1997
... When a bird ingests lead shot or sinkers, they are usually trapped in the gizzard, which is a muscular part of the stomach that grinds food. As it grinds the food, it also grinds the lead pellets and sinkers, breaking them down into small pieces. The acid in the gizzard dissolves these pieces, and the lead moves into the bird's bloodstream.
The blood carries the lead around the body, and it accumulates in the bones and vital organs, like the kidneys, brain, and liver. If enough lead builds up, these organs can be damaged. If a bird swallows more than about 6 lead pellets, it will probably die very quickly -- in a few days. This is called acute lead poisoning.
If the bird swallows a smaller number of pellets, it may gradually become very weak and die of starvation. This happens because the digestive system becomes paralyzed, and food cannot move through the system and be digested. This is called chronic lead poisoning.
Signs of Poisoning.
A bird that has lead poisoning acts very strangely. It may fly poorly and have many crash landings or may stagger around the ground. As the poisoning gets worse, it may not be able to fly or walk at all. It eats very little and hides away by itself, staying behind when other birds have migrated. Because of its weakness, it may have trouble fighting off other diseases and escaping from predators. A lead-poisoned bird may lose a lot of weight, get droopy wings, and have green diarrhea.
Even when there are no clear signs of lead poisoning, a bird may still be in trouble. It may not be able to find food, mate, build a nest, lay eggs, or care for its young properly. ...
1. Lead encephalopathy.
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Women Marvellous
http://www.24drs.com/woman/health.asp?who=4115.16449
Lead encephalopathy results from the presence of high levels of lead in the brain. Lead causes the brain to swell, increasing pressure within the skull (cerebral edema). The increased pressure can cause convulsions, mental retardation, paralysis, blindness, coma, and death.
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Chelating agents for lead poisoning.
HealthWise Incorporated, 2007
http://members.kaiserpermanente.org/kpweb/healthency.do?
hwid=d52538231§ionId=d52538231-sec&contextId=hw119558
Lead encephalopathy is a condition caused by extremely high levels of lead in the brain. Lead causes the brain to swell, increasing pressure within the skull (cerebral edema), which can cause seizures, mental retardation, paralysis, blindness, coma, and death.
2. Impaired Vitamin D metabolism
[affecting bone remodeling, mineral absorption and calcium uptake]
Lead Action News, Health Impacts of Lead Poisoning
http://www.lead.org.au/fs/fst7.html
A preliminary listing of the health effects & symptoms of lead poisoning.
by Vance Vella, Elizabeth O’Brien, Elisa Idris and others
Digestive system
* Impaired Vitamin D metabolism
[affecting bone remodeling, mineral absorption and calcium uptake]
(2, Silbergeld, E. K. (1992).
Neurological perspective on lead toxicity.
In Human Lead Exposure, ed H. L. Needleman, CRC Press.
3, National Research Council (US). (1993).
Measuring lead exposure in infants children and other sensitive populations.
National Academy Press, Washington DC.
6, Berry, M., Garrard, J. & Greene, D. (1994).
Reducing Lead Exposure in Australia.
Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health, Canberra.
18, Schwartz, J. (1992).
Low level health effects of lead:
Growth, developmental and neurological disturbances.
In Human Lead Exposure, ed H. L. Needleman, CRC Press
24, Fischbein, A. (1992).
Occupational and environmental lead exposure.
In Environmental and Occupational Medicine, 2nd ed.
Ed W.N. Rom. Little, Brown & Co.
35, Royce, S. E. (1992).
Lead toxicity.
US Dept of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Sept .
38, Werbach, M. F. (1997).
Foundations of nutritional medicine.
Third Line press, Tarzana California.
39, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registrar. (1989).
Toxicological profile of lead. US ATSDR.
58) Dr. Ben Balzer,
"
Lead Poisoning Slide Show, 6 September 2000"
www.lead.org.au/bblp/bblp.html
3. Biologic Markers of Lead Toxicity
Measuring Lead Exposure in Infants, Children,
and Other Sensitive Populations Metabolites ...
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=2232&page=143
OCR for page 181
beta-Aminoisobutyric acid (beta-AIB) is a normal degradation product of thymidine, a constituent of DNA. Unlike typical amino acids, it is actively secreted as a catabolic metabolite via the tubule. It is normally excreted at low rates in humans not exposed to lead (6 nmol/µmol of creatinine). Farkas and co-workers (1987) examined the concentrations of this metabolite in urine of workers occupationally exposed to lead and in marmoset monkeys experimentally exposed via tap water. In workers with a mean blood lead concentration of 64 µg/dL and a mean EP of 117 µg/dL, there was a tripling of urinary output of beta-AIB. No threshold was determined for excretion beyond the normal range. In monkeys, there was a dose-dependent increase in urinary excretion.
Given the fact of beta-AIB's handling by the kidney, the increase in the metabolite is a marker more of DNA damage through increased degradation of thymidine to beta-AIB. Identification of Toxicity Mechanisms Markers of effect not only are useful in the screening of high-risk populations, but also help to establish the various molecular and cellular mechanisms by which lead imparts multiorgan toxicity in those high-risk populations.
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Inhibition of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D Formation
As noted elsewhere, lead exposure is associated with reduced blood concentrations of the hormonal metabolite of vitamin D, 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D. Such reductions with blood lead concentrations of 33–55 µg/dL, furthermore, rival those seen in several disease states (Rosen et al., 1980; Mahaffey et al., 1982b; Rosen and Chesney, 1983). Consequently, reductions in this hormone at lower lead exposures are signaling
OCR for page 182
Measuring Lead Exposure in Infants, Children, and Other Sensitive Populations early metabolic disturbance. Reduced concentrations of the hormone indicate that lead has two mechanisms of adverse effect that potentially can operate in high-risk populations.
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The first concerns the toxic consequences of disturbance in the hormone-calcium relationship, and the second concerns the many roles played by 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D beyond regulatory control of calcium function. A major mechanisms of cellular lead toxicity appears to be interference in calcium homeostasis and function (Chapter 2). Such interference occurs either directly, via lead-calcium interactions in the cell, or through impaired function of calcium as a second messenger due to disturbed regulation by 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D (Rasmussen, 1986a,b; Pounds and Rosen, 1988).
It implies a risk of impaired handling of vesicular intestinal calcium and intracellular calcium in bone cells. Calcium-based effects are broadly distributed as to tissue and system sites, including the vascular system and developing neural and bone tissue.
As summarized in Table 2-3, other physiologic functions potentially can be altered by reduced concentrations of 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D. They include parathyroid phospholipid metabolism, cyclic GMP production in skin fibroblasts, rental phosphate reabsorption, and differentiation and proliferation of diverse cell types. In addition, the division, communication, and cytostructural organization of many cell types are affected.
Impairment of Heme Synthesis Heme is a prosthetic group for many functional proteins involved in cell function and survival, and its formation is obligatory for cellular functions in many tissues, especially blood-forming tissue, muscle, kidney, liver, and brain (EPA, 1986a). Evidence of an effect of lead on heme formation would constitute a far-reaching mechanistic clue to lead toxicity. Heme formation is an intramitochondrial process.
Its inhibition, whether by inhibition of the intramitochondrial enzyme ferrochelatase or by impairment of intramitochondrial delivery of the iron atom to protoporphyrin, can be considered a marker of generalized mitochondrial toxicity of lead in heme formation for a large number of cell and tissue types. ...
4. My Personal Example
2007-10-30 Response to article on Lead Poisoning at Mercola.com
As an ADULT who was diagnosed several months ago to have Severe Lead Poisoning, I offer a brief critique of your article for its irrelevancy and inadequacy.
1. Children are not the only individuals capable of exposure.
Focusing on such minimizes the problem to the drama of the mass media practice of sell-and-abandon.
2. While lead in paints was legislated out in the 1970s, Canadian tests in the mid-to late 1990's found that most paint manufacturers continued to use lead because the laws had never been observed, encouraged, maintained, enforced, or acted upon to provide penalty or example! Most paint continues NOT to provide an ingredient list, which at the minimum, would indicate if the white pigment in the paint is from lead, or titanium. There are few other alternatives for this color Base.
3. Testing is NOT simple!
I had hair and blood tests for 4 YEARS to try and determine why I was having heavy metals poisoning symptoms and chronic fatigue. I recognized the symptoms because I had previously been exposed to acute mercury poisoning from dental amalgams, Twice, and had found the sources, had them removed, with Great effort and persistence, and fully detoxed. My Severe Lead Poisoning assessment was reached only after I paid over $600 to have a multiple challenge test for heavy metals followed immediately by a 24-hour urine test, analysed by one of the best North American labs. Once I knew the major culprit was Lead, I found the significant symptoms which could have enabled the diagnosis earlier, IF, any of the many practitioners and therapist I had gone to and spoke with, about those same significant factors, had been aware of their significance.
Instead of offering health recovery, I was offered simplistic, and sometimes life threatening prescriptions, idealistic and irrelevant platitudes and attitudes, denial, abandonment.
NONE of the experts ever said: "I don't know what THOSE symptoms mean. Let me look into it and try and find an answer or find someone to send you to who has more experience in that area." The basic response was: "If you don't get well by following my Magic Wisdom, you are not trying!" OR, "I don't like you because you challenge (my ignorance), go home and die!"
4. Diagnosis is NOT simple!
If it were, I would have recovered much earlier and would have been Very Productive in continuing to assist others with effective services over the past 5 years. I would have had an income. I would not have had to try and eventually obtain some social or disability assistance only to find that I am disqualified in every case because I have been sick and unable to make an income and pay enough taxes EVERY year, and that it took aggressive efforts, for 2 years, to recover and to eventually get referred to the Provincial specialist who determined in a 20 minute interview that I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and would NEVER recover ... because he didn't have any answers!
From the beginning, I mentioned to those I attended that it seemed peculiar that my head appeared to be swollen, as indicated by the way my eyeglass frame legs seemed to increasingly embed into my scalp. Also as to why my scalp continually had an outbreak of pustules, which were NOT bacterial or fungal. Neither did anyone address as to why a person who for decades had been active daily and spent much time out of doors daily, within a two week period, began becoming fatigued within 5 or 10 minutes exposure to the sun.
When I tried the Marshall Protocol, for CFS-ME recovery, I experienced almost immediate benefit. This benefit increased as I used UV limiting sunglasses and avoided ALL sources of vitamin D. These TWO symptoms are significant of Lead poisoning, although may be brought on by other means also. Symptoms do not define causes, yet do narrow the range and number of same.
--- Lead encephalopathy is a condition caused by extremely high levels of lead in the brain.
Lead causes the brain to swell, increasing pressure within the skull (cerebral edema), which can cause seizures, mental retardation, paralysis, blindness, coma, and death.
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Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/lead/health_lead.html
... EFFECTS ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM:
Central nervous system (CNS) or brain function has been harmed in workers with long-term, low-level lead exposure. Symptoms typically occur with low to moderate exposure and include forgetfulness, irritability, tiredness, headache, fatigue, impotence, decreased libido (sexual drive), dizziness, and depression. Repeated exposure to moderate to high levels can cause encephalopathy (a progressive degeneration of certain parts of the brain). Early symptoms of encephalopathy include dullness, irritability, poor attention span, headache, muscular tremor, loss of memory and hallucinations. More severe symptoms occur at very high exposures and include delirium, lack of coordination, convulsions, paralysis, coma and death. ...
5. Treatment is NOT simple, for Lead poisoning.
It may NOT respond to the same detox protocols as are effective for other heavy metals.
For a year, I had vitamin-herbal chelation which had previously reduced each of two severe mercury poisoning episodes to minimal, in 4 to 6 weeks. Over 3 years I had 30 intravenous chelation and hydrogen peroxide treatments. I also had a number of DMPS treatments. I had always been health conscious and had a more healthful diet than many other people, did not smoke, and was overweight by only 20 or so pounds. NONE of these detox approaches touched my lead burden. If they had, by the time I was diagnosed, the result would have meant that the higher earlier burden would have mummified me!
After determining the REALITY of my Lead Poisoning, I was fortunate to find a resource person who was able to determine that my kidney function was at about 20%, in spite of the common, cheap, blood tests that are frequently run by the medical profession and government services. I had to dramatically improve my kidney function before I could detox the lead effectively, and the lead burden would make that difficult. As all heavy metals do, the lead would depress the function of many organ and hormone systems such that any recovery would only come about through extreme focus, willpower, resources, and wisdom.
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I don't have all the answers yet and, while I have been successfully detoxing some from my lead burden, it is evident that there is a complex yet stable set of factors involved in successfully diagnosing and eliminating a lead body burden. These include:
a. Other competing heavy metals must be accessed and reduced first.
There may become a alternating main access to mercury, then lead, then mercury, then lead, and other alternating presence heavy metals as the volume/impact of one takes precedence over the others. Accessibility for detoxing may require specific therapies to OPEN access to the cellular stores. Neurotherapy and Cranial Sacral Therapy have shown great benefits here in the hands of adept practitioners who are openminded and innovative.
b. It would be helpful if the medical AND alternative AND holistic practitioners - spokespersons became familiar with distinguishing symptoms of lead poisoning: brain inflammation, vitamin D metabolic dysfunction leading to a version of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS-ME).
c. It would be a Great Positive if the support community and the general public would offer Encouragement to those who are suffering from the symptoms rather than provide a basis for depression and despair with the suggestions that the individual is at fault because the expert does not know the answers and does not understand the health problem, or its origin.
d. Suggesting simplistic solutions for difficulties which those who must cope with them KNOW are very complex and challenging is WORSE than no suggestion at all.
Please Expand your views and knowledge on this topic.
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