Lead is commonly found in soil, especially near roadways, older houses, old orchards, mining areas, industrial sites, power plants, incinerators, landfills, and hazardous waste sites.
People living near hazardous waste sites can be exposed to lead and chemicals that contain lead by breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or swallowing dust or dirt that contains lead. Tap water in houses that have lead pipes can contain lead, especially if the water is acidic. If you are not certain whether an older building contains lead pipes, you should let the water run a while before drinking it so that any lead formed in the pipes can be flushed out. People living in areas where old houses were painted with lead-based paint can be exposed to higher levels of lead in dust and soil. Likewise, people who live near busy highways or on old orchard land where lead arsenate pesticides were once used can be exposed to higher levels of lead. People who work in jobs where lead is used or who have hobbies in which lead is used, such as making stained glass, also can be exposed to lead.
Food can contain small amounts of lead. However, lead solder is no longer used in cans, so very little lead is found in food. Therefore, the chance of exposure to lead in canned food from lead-soldered containers was greatly reduced. (Some other nations still use lead-soldered cans.) In the most recent studies, lead was not detectable in most foods, and the average dietary intake was about 1 microgram of lead (a microgram is a millionth of a gram) per kilogram of body weight (µg/kg) per day. Leafy fresh vegetables grown in lead-containing soils can have lead-containing dust on them. Lead also can enter foods put into improperly glazed pottery or ceramic dishes or into leaded-crystal glassware. Illegal whiskey made using stills that contain lead-soldered parts (such as truck radiators) also can contain lead.
In addition, cigarette smoke contains small amounts of lead. Also, children can be exposed to lead by putting their hands that have touched lead-containing soil or dust into their mouths.
In general, very little lead is found in lakes, rivers, or groundwater used to supply the public with drinking water. More than 99% of all publicly supplied drinking water contains less than 0.005 parts of lead per million parts of water (ppm). However, the amount of lead taken into your body through drinking water can be higher in communities with acidic water supplies. Acidic water makes it easier for the lead found in pipes, leaded solder, and brass faucets to be dissolved and to enter the water we drink. Public water treatment systems are now required to make water less acidic. Plumbing that contains lead can be found in public drinking water systems and in houses, apartment buildings, and public buildings that are more than 20 years old. However, as buildings age, mineral deposits form a coating on the inside of the water pipes that insulates the water from lead in the pipe or solder, thus reducing the amount of lead that can leach into the water. Since 1988, regulations require that drinking water coolers must not contain lead in parts that come into contact with drinking water.
Breathing or swallowing dust and dirt in the air is another way you can be exposed to lead. In 1984, burning leaded gasoline was the largest source of lead emissions. Now, very little lead in the air comes from gasoline. Other sources of lead in the air include releases to the air from industries involved in iron and steel production, lead-acid-battery manufacturing, and nonferrous (brass and bronze) foundries. Lead released into air also can come from burning of solid waste that contains lead, windblown dust, volcanoes, exhaust from workroom air, burning or weathering of lead-painted surfaces, fumes and exhaust from leaded gasoline, and cigarette smoke.
Skin contact with dust and dirt containing lead occurs every day. For example, inexpensive cosmetic jewelry pieces sold to the general public might contain high levels of lead that can be transferred to the skin during routine handling. However, not much lead can get into your body through your skin.
At home, you or your children might be exposed to lead if you take certain home remedy medicines that contain lead compounds. Lead compounds are in some non-Western cosmetics, such as surma and kohl. Some types of hair colorants, cosmetics, and dyes contain lead acetate. Read the labels on hair coloring products, use them with caution, and keep them away from children.
Exposure to lead occurs in many jobs. People exposed at work are usually exposed by breathing air that contains lead particles. People who work in lead smelting and refining industries, brass/bronze foundries, rubber products and plastics industries, soldering, steel welding and cutting operations, battery manufacturing plants, and lead compound manufacturing industries can be exposed to lead. Construction and demolition workers and workers at municipal waste incinerators, pottery and ceramics industries, radiator repair shops, and other industries that use lead solder also can be exposed. Painters who sand or scrape old paint can be exposed to lead in dust. Between 0.5 million and 1.5 million workers are exposed to lead in the workplace every year. In California alone, more than 200,000 workers are exposed to lead. Families of workers can be exposed to higher levels of lead when workers bring home lead dust on their work clothes.
You also can be exposed to lead at home if you work with stained glass as a hobby, make lead fishing weights or ammunition, or are involved in home renovation that involves removing old lead-based paint.
