Notes on Lead Pipes and Lead Contamination

Notes from the Field: Lead Contamination of Opium — Iran, 2016

On February 14, 2016, a patient with known addiction to oral opium and no occupational or other lead exposure was admitted to Loghman-Hakim Hospital and Poison Center (LHHPC) in Tehran, Iran, with abdominal pain, anemia, constipation, and a blood lead level (BLL) of 137 μg/dL (normal = <10 μg/dL). Over the next 8 months, approximately 3,000 oral opium users were evaluated at LHHPC, and found to...

Effect of Phosphate Inhibitors on Lead Release From Pipes

Hexametaphosphate tends to increase release of both particulate and soluble lead to drinking water. For every mg/L of residual hexametaphosphate, soluble lead increased by 1.6 – 2.5 mg/L after 72 hour stagnation in pure lead pipes compared to the same condition dosed with orthophosphate. Utilities should consider these adverse effects whenever polyphosphate is used to prevent scaling or iron pr...

Some effects of lead contamination on liver and gallbladder bile+

Lead can cause liver damage in which free radical reactions are involved. In order to study the effect of lead on liver and gallbladder, we examined human gallbladder bile after cholecystectomy, as well as the liver and bile of broiler chickens fed with basal diet and contaminated with 400 and 600 mg/kg lead (Pb(CH3COO)2. Concentrations of lead in human bile were determined with inductively cou...

Taking the lead on lead.

A Review on Lead Contamination of Hong Kong's Environment

With a population of 5.5 million and a limited amount of land (1046 km2), Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Due to the decentralization scheme to ease the densely populated centres, the rural area has been urbanized rapidly. The so-called 'satellite' cities in the New Territories have developed and expanded tremendously. As a result, housing estates are interspe...