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Andrew Borders & Arjun Muralidharan

Mr. Acre

AP Calculus

10 February 2017

Lead, a Portentous Problem

Some commonly used poisons include arsenic, cyanide, and ricin. But, there is one that

can seep into our water supply and sneak through the air to poison us unsuspectingly: lead.

Lead, a toxic metal, can be harmless when exposed to minute amounts; however, when a person

is exposed to high levels of lead, it can become hazardous. Lead is especially maleficent as it can

sneak past most people because of its ubiquitousness in household products such as gasoline,

food, artificial turf, and especially water (Sources of Lead). Having a devastating effect on

human body and the mind, lead is a precarious problem that needs a solution.

Lead can be commonly found in contaminated soil (soil near busy roads), water that

flows through old lead pipes, and household items, such as jewelry, toys, and bowls. The

commonality of lead can lead to contamination of any age, but children are more likely to be

affected by high lead levels. A recurring source of lead exposure for children is from lead-based

paint either from their beloved toys or living in houses built before 1978, which can also

contaminate surrounding dust and soil. Children six and younger are at a greater risk of lead

poisoning as they have no proper hygienic sense, eat non-food items, and their underdeveloped

bodies absorb lead at a faster rate (Lead Poisoning-Topic Overview).

Because lead can be found almost everywhere, it can enter a persons body in a multitude

of ways - being inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin. Once lead is in the body, it can

take years or decades to be expelled, and in that time, it can cause calamitous damage to ones
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body, brain, and behavior. After entering the body, it becomes extremely harmful to the person as

it is distributed throughout the major organs such as the brain, kidneys, and liver. Effects of the

lead on the body include severe abdominal pain, vomiting, anemia, decreased bone and muscle

growth, and damage to the nervous system and the organs. For example, when lead enters the

bloodstream, it can harm red blood cells and limit their ability to carry oxygen to the organs and

tissues causing anemia which in turn leads to fatigue and excessive weariness (Lead

Poisoning). Lead does not only affect the body, but also the brain where it can devastating

neurological damage.

When the miniscule particles of lead reach the brain, it can cause enormous learning and

behavior problems that lead to severe development issues. Children exposed to lead possess rigid

problem-solving skills, shortened attention spans, aggressive or impulsive behavioral issues,

troubles learning and using language, and are at higher risk for delayed fine and gross motor skill

development (Neuropsychological Effects of Lead Poisoning). These impairments can lead to

decreased intelligence, especially in a childs intelligence quotient (IQ). Studies have found that

for every 10 g/dL in the blood of children, there is a four to seven point drop in IQ ("Lead

Toxicity"). Lead does not only have a neurological effect on children though. If an adult has a

concentration of lead in the bloodstream of around 40 to 120 g/dL, it has been shown to cause

increased nervousness, impaired concentration, and reduced IQ scores.

Lead has this profound effect on the brain and how a person develops because of its

effect on the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF (Stansfield et al). The BDNF is a

chemical used in the creation of new synapses in the hippocampus, the brains center for memory

and learning. Since new synapses can

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not form, or are formed more slowly, the ability for a person to retain new information

and properly access it becomes diminished causing improper mental and physical development.
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Figure 1. Lead effects on BDNF production

Figure 1, above, shows the proper and impaired functions of a synapse. The left side

(green) shows how a synapse should function while the right side (red) shows how lead can

impair its functions. The diagram shows how lead impedes the BDNF vesicle transportation by

either slowing or reversing the process of phosphorylation which prevents enzymes from

activating.

These neurological effects are especially magnified upon students. With a lowered IQ and

a diminished ability to create new memories and learn, a student exposed to lead poisoning

would struggle throughout school. This can limit their success throughout their school career,

their college career, and even the career they wish to pursue. A prime example of lead-poisoned
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students performing poorly in schools are portrayed in the city of Detroit, Michigan (Figure 2

below).
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Figure 2. Map of lead levels in Detroit, Michigan

Figure 2 shows a diagram of the lead levels of students in the city of Detroit, posted in

the Detroit Free Press. As seen in the diagram, areas that are shaded rusty red-brown color have

the highest concentrations of lead, while gray areas have the lowest concentrations. In the city,

the southeast side has the high concentration of students with lead poisoning mainly because of

exposure to older buildings, that were painted with lead paint, and lead pipes. The areas with the

highest concentration of students with lead poisoning generally report lower test scores, more

dropouts, and more criminal activity compared to the rest of the state.

Recently, there is another part of Michigan which is being affected with this ominous

poison. Flint. The city of Flint is facing city-wide crisis: lead poisoning. The Flint Water Crisis,

which began as early as 2014, created a serious health hazard to the inhabitants of the entire city
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as the drinking water became lead-contaminated. After the discovery of large concentrations of

lead in the water supply, the effects of lead on the development of children has been a headline in

both local and national news. In the case of Flint, the main causes of lead poisoning were pipes

soldered with lead; the water was not properly monitored and the lead was allowed to leach

off /.residents were exposed to lead for 509 days, which began in 2014 and ended when the city

switched back to the Detroit River as its source of water (Christensen) (Kennedy). This data can

be used with Eulers method to approximate how the amount of lead in his blood, tissues, and

bones will change in the future. The Euler method is a mathematically way to predict values of a

function given an initial condition, a differential equation, and a change in time. The graph below

shows the results of the Euler method and illustrates what happens to lead when it is absorbed by
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the body (in the case of victims in Flint).

Figure 3. Flint Lead Distribution in Body

The figure above shows a model of how lead will travel throughout the body based on the

estimations of lead content in Flint and Eulers method. Initially, lead ingested by drinking water
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will be transported to the blood and the lead content of the blood will quickly increase. However,

the lead content in blood will eventually reach a maximum amount due to the lead being

distributed to different parts of the body or expelled from the body. The lead content in skin also

increases until it reaches a maximum, but at a lower level than the blood. Unlike the blood or

skin, lead in the bones continuously increases much longer than either the blood or skin. Lead in

the bones will continue to increase until lead is no longer ingested or it reaches it maximum of

roughly 17.9 ppm. The lead content in the bones will linger decades afterwards causing

destructive damage if proper treatment is not seeked.

Clean water is taken for granted. But for the thousands affected in Flint, clean water is a

revered because of the dangers of lead-laced water. The case of Flint is NOT isolated as it is not

the only city that possesses archaic lead pipes or lead painted houses or soil contaminated with

lead.

Even though toxic, lead has many uses that can be applicable in an industrial setting such

as parts for machines, sophisticated robotic instruments, and defense ammunition. However, no

matter how valuable lead is, is it worth the price of a human life? Is it worth ruining a childs

chance to strive academically and mentally? Is it worth poisoning entire cities if an accident

occurs? Is it worth to witness a family struggling to survive in a lead-poisoned environment

where they do not know what can get them sick or not? The benefits of lead should not outweigh

the disastrous effects of this poisonous toxin; something must change, whether more regulations

are put in place regarding the sale of lead products or lead as a whole is substituted for another

non-toxic material. The effect that lead has on ones physical and mental health can be

disastrous.
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Works Cited

Christensen, Jen. Flint Lead Poisoning: Living with Uncertainty Long-Term. CNN,

Cable News Network, 5 Mar. 2016, <www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/health/flint-lead-

exposure-long-term-pain/.>

Kennedy , Merrit. Lead-Laced Water In Flint: A Step-By-Step Look At The Makings Of

A Crisis. NPR, NPR, 20 Apr. 2016, <www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-

way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-

makings-of-a-crisis.>

Lead Toxicity: What Are The Physiologic Effects of Lead Exposure? Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Aug. 2012,

<www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=7&po=10.>

Lead Poisoning. KidsHealth, The Nemours Foundation,

<www.kidshealth.org/en/parents/lead-poisoning.html/.>

Lead Poisoning-Topic Overview. WebMD, WebMD,

<www.webmd.com/children/tc/lead-poisoning-topic-overview#1.>

Neuropsychological Effects of Lead Poisoning. University of Maryland Medical Center,

<www.mwph.org/programs/lead-treatment/effects.>

Sources of Lead. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and
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Prevention, 29 May 2015, <www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/sources.htm.>

Stansfield, Kirstie H., et al. Dysregulation of BDNF-TrkB Signaling in Developing

Hippocampal Neurons by Pb 2+ : Implications for an Environmental Basis of

Neurodevelopmental Disorders.Toxicological Sciences | Oxford Academic, Oxford

University Press, 17 Feb. 2012,

<academic.oup.com/toxsci/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/toxsci/kfs090.>