Lead Iodide Lab Report

Lead, a naturally occurring metal and can be used in almost everything. It can cause serious health issues if it is exposed for a long time, particularly in children as they are more susceptible to absorbing and retaining lead in their bodies. Each year, in the United States 310,000 of 1- to 5-year age group are found to have unsafe levels of lead in their blood, which can cause a wide range of symptoms. (1)

Sodium Iodide is not an electrophilic source for Iodine because Iodine is the least reactive of all the halogens, and it itself does not serve as a base, due to its positive charge. This means that Sodium Iodide needs an Oxidizing agent to make it a strong electrophile.

(Campbell, 2016). Two giants in childhood lead poisoning research and advocacy, Dr. Philip Landrigan and Dr. David Bellinger, summarize the adverse effects of lead very completely, yet succinctly: “Lead is a devastating poison. It damages children’s brains, erodes intelligence, diminishes creativity and the ability to weigh consequences and make good decisions, impairs language skills, shortens attention span, and predisposes to hyperactive and aggressive behavior. Lead exposure in early childhood is linked to later increased risk for dyslexia and school failure.”(p. 3).

Lead poisoning has been a concern for many years. In fact, because of the affects of lead poisoning, there has been an extensive decline in its use. "Many people believe lead poisoning is no longer a threat, yet millions of homes contain lead based paint" (Heck, J., 2005, para. 1). Exposure to lead at any level is unhealthy, especially in infants, children, and pregnant women and continues to be an ongoing dilemma in this country. I read two articles concerning lead poisoning; the first article is from FineTuning, a popular press and the second article is from Pediatrics, a peer-review journal. In this paper, I will clearly summarize each article by comparing the content of both articles. In addition, I will summarize the attention to

Mattel is starting to take a step in the right direction, according to Renae Merle from The Washington Post, “Mattel said it was strengthening its process for preventing the use of lead based paint, it will only permit paint from certified suppliers and require every batch to be tested, company officials said” (Merle 1). 80% of toys in the United States are imported from China, according to Renae Merle, and 65% of those toys are created by Mattel. Although that is a step in the right direction, that still leaves 15% of the toys in the United States at a higher risk of having high traces of lead on them, going undetected. Stores like Toys ‘R’ Us that sell toys sold by companies other than Mattel, should be required to post the percentage of how much lead is in each toy directly next to or near the toy so that parents can be aware of this problem. If parents are not made aware of this problem, it is going to cause more concerns health wise. Michelle Albert, a stay at home mom of two children states that “I feel our country should be more careful about the things we import” (Albert 1). She fears that her children may have been exposed to these toys and has no way of knowing until it may be too late.

The major sources of lead here were gasoline, paint chips and water from old plumbing. After lead was removed from gasoline and paint, blood lead levels (BLL) in children decreased on average from 16 mcg/dL to less than 3 mcg/dL. Residual lead persists in the environment, however. A toxic level is currently defined as 5 mcg/dL. In U.S. children age 1-5, the prevalence of BLLs >10 mcg/dL decreased from 88% to 4.4% between 1976 and 1994 and further dropped to 0.8% by 2010. Yet there are still almost half a million children in the U.S. with levels >5

The improved screening and treatment of lead poisoning decreased the severity of symptoms usually seen. However, the level of lead in the blood does not establish what symptoms are seen, since lead in blood only establishes current exposure. Recently, studies have shown that a long exposure to low amounts of lead may have severe neurobehavioral effects that are not diagnosed until the child enters school (Singhal et. al., 1980).

Lead toxicity has been an area of unending research in recent years. There have been positive and negative correlation’s relating its toxic effects to both child developmental deficiencies and adult regression problems. This review will focus on the problems associated with the children. It will discuss various routes of entry of lead into the child’s system, both prenatally and postnatally, the mechanisms employed by lead to cause the dysfunction’s, and some of the neurological deficits believed to be caused by the lead exposure.

In 2001, after Washington, D.C., changed how it disinfected drinking water, lead in tap water at thousands of homes spiked as much as 20 times the federally-approved level. Residents did not find out for three years. When they did, officials ripped out lead water pipes feeding 17,600 homes — and discovered three years later that many of the repairs had only prolonged the contamination.

Lead is a metal which has been used in human activities for the last 6000 years. Leads

In 2007, the international toy manufacturer, Mattel, Inc. issued several recalls for millions of their products. These recalls were for safety reasons in that testing at the manufacturing sites and special test laboratories showed that millions of their toys were coated with dangerous amounts of lead in the paint. This lead based paint contains a potent neurotoxin that if ingested can cause serious harm to children. Mattel assured the public that the problem would be solved, the recalled products would be collected and replaced, and that the company would never let this type of incident happen again.

Lead paint and pipes is where lead is most commonly found. These two sources are the main cause of lead poisoning. Lead paint can be found in old houses. The paint does not affect anyone until it starts to peel. When it begins to peel it creates a lead based dust; the dust spreads and contaminates everyday items. Touching these items then putting hands near the face or in the mouth is a way to contract lead poisoning. When it comes to children contracting lead poisoning studies show that it only takes an amount of dust comparable to one grain of salt to show high lead blood levels. Copper pipes, lead pipes, and brass faucets are a second main source for lead poisoning. (National Safety Council, 2009) Over time these pipes begin to corrode and the lead begins to seep into the drinking water. When this happens you usually will not know. The water you drink on a daily basis will taste and basically look the same.

I previously learned about the lead poisoning issues of the 1970’s in my history classes and I was taught to believe that lead was then banded by the government. In actuality the government decreased the amount of lead that he FDA allows in each pint of paint to be considered unleaded. Furthermore, the supposedly “unleaded” paint was only banned from public building, so houses can legally be painted with leaded paint. I was so intrigued by this workshop that I spoke with the organizations members and plan to get actively involved with their organization in the near future.

* Lead. Lead is hazardous to health as it accumulates in the body and affects the central nervous system. Children and pregnant women are most at risk.

To please the public the industry also said they would conduct research about the effects of lead, but the research was funded by the lead industry so they skewed the presentation of the results to the public. Soon there were also cases reported of lead poisoning in children from their habit of biting lead-painted toys. This time the lead industry tried to distract the public by increasing their advertisements highlighting the benefits of lead using the mascot of the Dutch Boy Painter and slogans, such as “ethyl is to gasoline what vitamins are to food.” However, by the 1970’s with the introduction of safer elements and the decrease in public support, the lead industry lost its importance in the world.