ABSTRACT
Occupational lead poisoning and environmental contamination were evaluated at a lead scrap smelter. Thirty of 37 employees (81 per cent) has blood lead levels of greater than or equal to 80 mug/100 ml, indicating unacceptable absorption, and 35 had free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) levels greater than 60mug/100ml rbc, indicating toxicity of lead on heme metabolism in red blood cells; eight current and previous employees had been hospitalized with lead colic, and another with encephalopathy. Levels of lead in surface soil (1,800 ppm) and vegetation (20,000 ppm) at the smelter were high and decreased with distance. Animals on nearby pasture had died, and lead levels in the blood, milk, and hair of large and small animals were elevated. Adults living within 100 meters of the smelter had higher blood and hair lead levels than controls, who lived at greater distances, but there was no evidence in them of lead toxicity.
Subject(s)
Animal Diseases/chemically induced , Environmental Pollutants/analysis , Lead Poisoning/etiology , Metallurgy , Alabama , Animals , Cat Diseases/chemically induced , Cats , Cattle , Cattle Diseases/chemically induced , Dog Diseases/chemically induced , Dogs , Environmental Exposure , Erythrocytes/analysis , Hair/analysis , Hemoglobins/analysis , Horse Diseases/chemically induced , Horses , Humans , Lead/analysis , Lead/blood , Lead Poisoning/blood , Lead Poisoning/veterinary , Milk/analysis , Protoporphyrins/bloodABSTRACT
Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin was identified as the apparent cause of an outbreak of poisoning in humans, horses, and other animals. Exposure was related to the spraying of contaminated waste oil on riding arenas for dust control. The contamination resulted from improper disposal of a toxic industrial waste. The pathologic effects and chemical identification of tetrachlorodibenzodioxin are described.
Subject(s)
Dioxins/poisoning , Horse Diseases/chemically induced , Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins/poisoning , Aged , Animals , Chemical Industry , Child , Environmental Exposure , Female , Horses , Humans , Industrial Waste , Oils , Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins/toxicity , Rabbits , Waste Disposal, FluidABSTRACT
To investigate the relation between low-level absorption and neuropsychological function, blind evaluations were under-taken in forty-six symptom-free children aged 3-15 years with blood-lead concentrations of 40-68 mug. per 100 ml. (mean 48 mug. per 100 ml.) and in seventy-eight ethnically and socioeconomically similar controls with levels greater than mug. per 100 ml. (mean 27 mug. per (100 ml). All children lived within 6-6 km. of a large, lead-emitting smelter, and in many cases residence there had been lifelong. Mean age in the lead group was 8-3 years and in the controls 9-3. Testing with Wechsler intelligence scales for schoolchildren and preschool children (W.I.S.C. and W.P.P.S.I.) showed age-adjusted performance I.Q. to be significantly decreased in the group with higher lead levels (mean scores, W.I.S.C. plus W.P.P.S.I., 95 v. 103). Children in all ages in the lead group also had significant slowing in a finger-wrist tapping test. Full-scale I.Q., verbal I.Q., BEHAVIOUR, AND HYPERACTIVITY RATINGS DID NOT DIFFER.
Subject(s)
Cognition Disorders/chemically induced , Lead Poisoning/complications , Lead/blood , Motor Skills , Nervous System Diseases/chemically induced , Perceptual Disorders/chemically induced , Absorption , Adolescent , Affective Symptoms/diagnosis , Age Factors , Child , Child, Preschool , Colic/chemically induced , Colic/diagnosis , Environmental Exposure , Humans , Hyperkinesis/diagnosis , Nervous System Diseases/diagnosis , Neurologic Examination , Neurologic Manifestations , Pica/chemically induced , Pica/diagnosis , Seizures/diagnosis , Socioeconomic Factors , Texas , Wechsler ScalesABSTRACT
Blood lead levels were determined on a random sample of persons in all age groups living near a lead-emitting smelter in El Paso, Texas. A blood lead level of greater than or equal to 40 mug per 100 ml, which was considered indicative of undue lead absorption, was found in 53 per cent of the children one to nine years old living within 1.6 km of the smelter and in 18 per cent of those from 1.6 to 6.6 km; beyond that distance in older persons levels were lower. Children in the first 1.6 km with blood levels of greater than or equal to mug per 100 ml were exposed to 3.1 times as much lead in dust as children there with lower blood values (6447 vs 2067 ppm). There was also airborne lead exposure (8 to 10 mug per cubic meter, annual mean). Paint, water, food, and pottery were less important as sources. The data suggest that particulate lead in dust and air accounted for most of the lead absorption in El Paso children. The smelter was the principal source of this lead, especially within 1.6km of itself.
Subject(s)
Air Pollutants/analysis , Industrial Waste/analysis , Lead/blood , Adult , Air/analysis , Child , Child, Preschool , Cooking and Eating Utensils , Dust/analysis , Environmental Exposure , Humans , Infant , Mining , Soil/analysis , Texas , Water Supply/analysisSubject(s)
Antisepsis , Hexachlorophene/blood , Operating Rooms , Personnel, Hospital , Chromatography, Gas , Detergents , Female , Humans , Male , SoapsSubject(s)
Foodborne Diseases/genetics , Meat , Mercury Poisoning/genetics , Adolescent , Adult , Amniocentesis , Animal Feed , Ataxia/chemically induced , Cerebellum/drug effects , Child , Child, Preschool , Coma/chemically induced , Dimercaprol/administration & dosage , Disease Outbreaks , Edible Grain , Eye Manifestations , Female , Humans , Injections, Intramuscular , Male , Mercury/urine , Mercury Poisoning/drug therapy , Middle Aged , New Mexico , Penicillamine/administration & dosage , Pregnancy , Pregnancy ComplicationsSubject(s)
Adipose Tissue/analysis , Brain Chemistry , DDT/analysis , Genitalia/analysis , Kidney/analysis , Liver/analysis , Animal Feed , Animals , Animals, Newborn , DDT/administration & dosage , DDT/pharmacology , Female , Fetus/drug effects , Male , Maternal-Fetal Exchange/drug effects , Mice , Mice, Inbred Strains , PregnancyABSTRACT
Atomic absorption spectrophotometry and neutron activation analysis showed the presence of mercury in organic extracts of seed grain and in tissues of hogs fed the contaminated grain. Mercury was also found in the urine, serum, and cerebrospinal fluid of humans who ate the contaminated pork. Mass spectral analysis confirmed the presence of organic mercury. This paper reports the first documented episode of indirect mercury poisoning in humans in the United States caused by the ingestion of contaminated meat from animals that had consumed mercury in their food supply.