How does lead exposure affect you?

How does lead exposure affect you?

Exposure to high levels of lead may cause anemia, weakness, and kidney and brain damage. Very high lead exposure can cause death. Lead can cross the placental barrier, which means pregnant women who are exposed to lead also expose their unborn child.

What are two symptoms you would experience if you are exposed to lead?

Lead poisoning symptoms in adults

• High blood pressure.
• Joint and muscle pain.
• Difficulties with memory or concentration.
• Headache.
• Abdominal pain.
• Mood disorders.
• Reduced sperm count and abnormal sperm.
• Miscarriage, stillbirth or premature birth in pregnant women.

What is the most common way people are exposed to lead?

Dust. Lead dust is the most common way that people are exposed to lead. Inside the home, most lead dust comes from chipping and flaking paint or when paint is scraped, sanded, or disturbed during home remodeling. Chipping and peeling paint is found mostly on surfaces that rub or bump up against another surface.

What kinds of people are most affected by lead exposure?

Lead can affect almost every organ and system in your body. Children six years old and younger are most susceptible to the effects of lead….Other Adults

• Cardiovascular effects, increased blood pressure and incidence of hypertension;
• Decreased kidney function; and.
• Reproductive problems (in both men and women).

What are the long term effects of lead exposure?

Lead also causes long-term harm in adults, including increased risk of high blood pressure and kidney damage. Exposure of pregnant women to high levels of lead can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight.

What are uses of lead?

Lead is still widely used for car batteries, pigments, ammunition, cable sheathing, weights for lifting, weight belts for diving, lead crystal glass, radiation protection and in some solders. It is often used to store corrosive liquids.

Does lead affect adults?

How does lead impact the environment?

Lead can remain in the environment as dust indefinitely. The lead in fuels contribute to air pollution, especially in urban areas. Soils near highways, freeways, and smelting facilities have higher levels of lead than soils in other areas because of their exposure to lead dust, which accumulates over time.

What is lead used in today?

What are some of the health effects of exposure to lead what population is especially vulnerable to lead in drinking water?

Lead is persistent, and it can bioaccumulate in the body over time. Young children, infants, and fetuses are particularly vulnerable to lead because the physical and behavioral effects of lead occur at lower exposure levels in children than in adults.