Srianujata S
Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
J Toxicol Sci. 1998 Jul;23 Suppl 2:237-40. doi: 10.2131/jts.23.supplementii_237.
Lead has been known to be toxic to most living things at high dose. It is found naturally in earth and present in almost all parts of the environment, such as foods, air, water, dust, soil, paint, and tissues of living organisms including human. This metal is being used in various aspects including the manufacturing of storage batteries, production of chemicals, paints and gasoline additives. It is also used to make various metal products, e.g. sheet lead, solder, and pipes. Human exposure to lead is mainly from foods and other environments. However, it is expected that exposure to environmental lead is normally excessive and produces toxic effects. The well-known and excessive environmental exposures are air of industrial and heavy traffic areas. Use of leaded gasoline has caused the main lead pollution for years in almost every big city. Therefore, city inhabitants normally exposed to lead much more than those who live in the rural area. The most vulnerable groups at risk to lead exposure are fetuses and preschool age children. Young children in the 2-3 year-old age may be the most at risk for exposure to contaminated soil. Adults are affected when exposure is excessive in the working place and causing lead poisoning. Toxicities are mainly on heme biosynthesis, neurological effects including encepharopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and most importantly on I.Q. deficits. It also affects renal tissues to produce acute and chronic nephropathy and elevated blood pressure. There are studies of lead exposure of various means and the effects on human health, both in children and adults. Lead in environment and human exposure are expected to stay with us for long to come, due the still required lead use in many fields, particularly the use of lead in storage batteries and others. The magnitude of exposure will depend solely on the control of use by not allowing the contamination of lead in our environment to be excessive.
人们已经知道，高剂量的铅对大多数生物都有毒性。它天然存在于土壤中，几乎存在于环境的各个部分，如食物、空气、水、灰尘、土壤、油漆以及包括人类在内的生物组织中。这种金属被用于各个方面，包括制造蓄电池、生产化学品、油漆和汽油添加剂。它还用于制造各种金属产品，如铅板、焊料和管道。人类接触铅主要来自食物和其他环境。然而，预计环境铅暴露通常是过量的，并会产生毒性作用。众所周知的过量环境暴露源是工业和交通繁忙地区的空气。多年来，含铅汽油的使用几乎在每个大城市都造成了主要的铅污染。因此，城市居民通常比农村居民接触到更多的铅。最易受铅暴露影响的群体是胎儿和学龄前儿童。2至3岁的幼儿可能最容易接触受污染的土壤。成年人在工作场所接触过量铅并导致铅中毒时会受到影响。毒性主要作用于血红素生物合成、神经效应，包括脑病、周围神经病变，最重要的是会导致智商缺陷。它还会影响肾脏组织，导致急性和慢性肾病以及血压升高。有关于各种铅暴露途径及其对儿童和成人健康影响的研究。由于许多领域仍需要使用铅，特别是在蓄电池和其他方面的应用，预计环境中的铅和人类接触将在很长一段时间内伴随着我们。接触的程度将完全取决于对铅使用的控制，以防止我们环境中的铅污染过度。
