Facts and Firsts of Lead

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Facts and Firsts of Lead

Collated by Katarzyna Bochynska, Medical Science, University of Wollongong
Created 21^st October 2005
Updated 11^th October 2013

Lead is one of the metals of antiquity, and like Saturn – the oldest god and consequently the father of the gods – it has also been referred to as the oldest of metals (Nriagu, 1983).

6500 BC - lead discovered in Mesopotamia (today Turkey), first mine
The oldest piece of lead can be found in British museum dates from 3800 B.C
500 BC -300 AD. - Roman lead smelting produces dangerous emissions
200 BC - health effects of lead first stated by the Greek physician Dioscerides: "Lead makes the mind give way"
100 BC - epidemic outbreak of saturnine gout and sterility among Roman aristocracy
100 BC - Greek physicians give clinical description of lead poisoning.

Historical Awareness - "If we were to judge of the interest excited by any medical subject by the number of writings to which it has given birth, we could not but regard the poisoning by lead as the most important to be known of all those that have been treated of, up to the present time." Orfila, 1817

15^th century - lead known as poudre de la succession (succession powder)
16^th century – the introduction of lead containing cosmetics such as Venetian ceruse and spirits of Saturn
Lead mentioned by Shakespeare (1564-1616) at least 25 times in his published plays
1848 - Tanquerel des Planches, in his treatise, remarks on children placing lead painted toys in their mouths and developing lead colic
1886 - publication of first periodic table (Mendeleyev periodic table), lead is included as one of the 63 known elements
1887 - US medical authorities diagnose childhood lead poisoning
1897 - lead poisoning among Queensland children is documented

1904 - Child lead poisoning linked to lead-based paints (article in Australian Medical Gazette by J. Gibson)
1909 - France, Belgium and Austria ban white-lead interior paint
1914 - Pediatric lead-paint poisoning death from eating crib paint is described
1914 – [Many people wrongly believe this to be the year that lead was banned from house paint in Australia. In fact, lead was only limited to 0.1% in house paint in Australia 83 years later, in 1997!]

1920 - Introduction of tetraethyl lead as a key for improvement of engine performance
1921 - National Lead Company (USA) admits lead is a poison
1922 - League of Nations bans white-lead interior paint; US declines to adopt
1922 - Tunisia and Greece ban white-lead interior paint
1922 - The Health Acts Amendment Act of 1922 in the state of Queensland Australia, says:

114A(1) No paint containing more than five per centum of soluble lead shall be used or put within four feet from the floor or ground on the outside of any residence, hall school, or other building to which children under the age of fourteen years have access, or on any veranda railing, gate or fence.

1923 – First tetraethyl lead poisoning deaths occur
1926 – Great Britain, and Sweden, ban white – lead interior paint
1927 – Poland bans white lead interior paint
1931 – Spain and Yugoslavia ban white lead interior paint
1943- Report concludes eating lead paint chips causes physical and neurological disorders, behavior, learning and intelligence problems in children
1952 – many cases of children lead poisoning associated with white- lead paint are reported and publicized in popular press in USA
1955- CPSC lowered the limit of lead in paint to 1.0 %
1971- Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act passed
1971- CDC lowers the limit for a lead poisoned child to 40 micrograms /decilitre (µg/dL)
1975- CDC lowers the limit for a lead poisoned child to 30 µg/dL
1977 – the WHO recommends the tolerable dietary intake of lead as 430 µg/day micrograms/day
1978 – USA bans white lead paint (limit of lead in paint below 0.06%)
1979- association of lead exposure and neuropsychological deficits in children described in the New England Journal of Medicine
1980 - National Academy of Sciences calls leaded gasoline greatest source of atmospheric lead pollution
1985- CDC lowers the limit for a lead poisoned child to 25 µg/dL

The origin of chemical symbol for lead "Pb" is Latin word "plumbum" of unknown origin, related to Gk. molybdos "lead" (dial. bolimos), probably from an extinct Mediterranean language, perhaps Iberian. Lead is readily inhaled or ingested in the body and can be found in the blood, in soft tissue and in bones, where it can remain for decades.

1990 - Leaded gasoline in cars is banned in Canada
1991 - CDC establishes lead concentration safety limit as less than or equal to 10 µg/dL
1991 – establishment of Lead Group in Australia
1991 – the Canadian Paint and Coatings Association voluntarily agrees to limit lead content in consumer paint to 0.06%
1992 - the maximum lead content of domestic paint reduced to 0.25 % in Australia
1993 – the national (Australia) change of lead blood level standard from 25 µg/dL to less than or equal to 10 µg/dl
1994 - the UN commission called on governments worldwide to switch from leaded to unleaded petrol
1994 – study cited by American Academy of Pediatrics shows direct relationship between lead exposure and IQ deficits in children.
1995 - ATSDR declares lead the number one on CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances
1996 – Lead is declared the highest priority by the OECD for country-specific management plans
1996 – the association of elevated lead levels and destructive behavior in adolescent boys reported (Journal of the American Medical Association, 7 February 1996).
1996 – NHMRC sets the acceptable lead level in drinking water as 0.01mg/l
1997 - in Australia the maximum lead content of domestic paint reduced to 0.1%
1999 – Australia as the first country bans candles fitted with metal wick core containing lead

The pre-industrial lead blood levels in humans is estimated to be around 0.016 µg/dl, thus 50-200 times lower than the lowest reported levels today and around 625 times lower than "safe" value of less than or equal to 10 µg/dl.

2000 - the American Academy of Pediatrics and Pediatric Academic Societies report that cognitive defects in math, reading, short – term memory may occur at lead levels as low as 2.5 µg/dl
2000 – ecological and social studies suggest the association of gasoline lead exposure with increased crime rate
2000 - by the end of 2000, 42 countries phased out lead from petrol
2002 - European Union bans leaded petrol
2002- Australia phased out leaded petrol with exception of Avgas still permitted for water sports, motor car and motor bike racing
2004 - WHO/ Europe include lead on the list of Hazardous Chemicals: main risk for children's health as the most important neurotoxin for children

Reports suggest that phasing out the lead from petrol results in decrease in the average lead blood levels. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that reducing the environmental lead exposure would provide better future for next generations.

* Abbreviations in order of appearance in fact sheet:

CPSC – Consumer Product Safety Commission, USA
CDC- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
WHO- World Health Organization
UN- United Nations
ATSDR- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, USA
OECD- Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development
NHMRC- National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia

REFERENCES

A small dose of lead - LEAD DOSSIER - http://www.toxipedia.org/display/dose/Lead (Accessed 9th October 2013)
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERIODIC TABLE - www.wou.edu/las/physci/ch412/perhist.htm (Accessed 9th October 2013)
Childhood lead exposure and housing sources: Does a problem exist in Ontario? Position paper and resolution adopted by the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA), 2004 http://opha.on.ca/getmedia/c22e3f91-dd0b-4a65-8842-c1bc08d6c794/2004-02_pp.pdf.aspx?ext=.pdf (Accessed 9th October 2013)
Effect of lead on human health - http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/lead-plomb-eng.php (Accessed 9th October 2013)
History of lead advertising - History of Lead Industry Advertisements - Much of the material from the History of Lead Advertising section of this Web site is drawn from the book Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, (Berkeley: University of California Press/Milbank Fund, 2002), and from the article ''Cater to the Children: The Role of the Lead Industry in a Public Health Tragedy, 1900–1955" also by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner. American Journal of Public Health January 2000, Vol. 90, No. 1, 36-46, (Accessed 9th October 2013) www.cincinnatichildrens.org/research/project/enviro/hazard/lead/lead-advertising (Accessed 11th October 2013)
Lead Poisoning: A Historical Perspective - http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/lead-poisoning-historical-perspective (Accessed 11th October 2013)
Lead: The Relevance Of History, from the book Deceit and Denial: the Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, (Berkeley: University of California Press/Milbank Fund, 2002) http://www.amazon.com/Deceit-Denial-Industrial-California-ebook/dp/B003EEN3AI (Accessed 11th October 2013)
Deficits in Psychologic and Classroom Performance of Children with Elevated Dentine Lead Levels Herbert L. Needleman, M.D., Charles Gunnoe, ED.D., Alan Leviton, M.D., Robert Reed, Ph.D., Henry Peresie, Ph.D., Cornelius Maher, Ph.D., and Peter Barrett, B.S., NEJM 300: 689-694, 1979 - http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM197903293001301 (Accessed 11th October 2013)
Lead and lead poisoning in antiquity by Nriagu J.O. John Wiley & Sons Inc. 1983 http://openlibrary.org/books/OL3499881M/Lead_and_lead_poisoning_in_antiquity (Accessed 11th October 2013)
The secret history of lead by Jamie Lincoln Kitman, The Nation, 20th March 2000 - http://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead (Accessed 11th October 2013)
The Lead Effect? - Julie Wakefield - Environmental Health Perspectives • VOLUME 110 | NUMBER 10 | October 2002- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241041/pdf/ehp0110-a00574.pdf (Accessed 11th October 2013)

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