In the Fall of 2024, some households were notified that there either may be, or are, lead water pipes supplying water to their homes. The notification is appreciated. The problem is supposed to be fixed in the Spring of 2025. Whether you received a notice or not, understanding the danger that lead represents is beneficial for all of us.

A complicating factor in lead poisoning is that you cannot see, taste, or smell the lead to which you are being exposed. There is absolutely no safe level of lead in the blood or the body. Even if lead is in the blood for only a few weeks, during those weeks, the lead may have already made its impact on the brain.

If the lead level decreases to what may seem like an insignificant level, the lead is already in the brain and is having neurotoxic effects. For children, once lead enters the brain, it is too late to prevent its impact on that developing brain. The simple truth is that there is no level of lead in the blood or body that is safe for children or adults.

The parts of the body that store lead are the blood, soft tissues, and bone. Lead may persist in the blood for weeks, persist for months in the soft tissues, and persist for years in the bone. Bones, teeth, hair, and nails are the best storehouses for lead. Other places include the brain, the spleen, the kidneys, the liver, and the lungs.

It is my understanding that lead can be naturally removed from the body at a very slow rate, mainly through urine. Smaller amounts may be removed through the feces and even smaller amounts through the hair, nails, and sweat.

The lead that is absorbed into the body is carried throughout the body by the blood. One estimate of how long lead can generally last in bone may be somewhere between 20 and 30 years or longer. This then allows the bone to release lead into the bloodstream long after the initial exposure.

A significant factor that increases the impact of lead is its ability to both mimic and inhibit the actions of calcium. One way that lead enters all the tissues of the body is following the way that calcium is distributed in the body. The ability of lead to substitute for calcium is a factor that increases the toxic impact. It has the ability to substitute for the calcium molecules. High levels of lead will decrease the transportation of calcium, and the lead will compete with the calcium molecules.

Once lead enters a cell, it will then allow more lead to be absorbed by that cell. Lead also will damage the blood-brain barrier, which is designed to protect the brain from things that should not be in the brain. Once the blood-brain barrier is disrupted, unwanted chemicals, for example, can then enter the developing brain. The normal development of a child’s brain will then be impacted.

Once absorbed, the lead not only impacts learning and memory, but it can also impact a person’s mood, which can include depression and anxiety, as well as violence and aggressive behavior. There are many other symptoms of lead poisoning, which can include cramping, abdominal pain, aggressive behavior, anemia, constipation, difficulty sleeping, and even difficulty getting pregnant. Headaches, hearing loss, irritability, low energy, and poor appetite are also possible impacts. High levels of lead exposure can cause vomiting, seizures, staggering walk, muscle weakness, and even coma.

Children exposed to lead have been known to have low IQs, brain damage, behavioral problems, developmental delays, hyperactivity, hearing loss, poor performance in school, and symptoms that resemble ADHD. If a woman has been exposed to lead and then becomes pregnant, the lead stored in her bones may pass from mother to child. Once the lead enters the fetus, it will easily enter the developing brain through the child’s immature blood-brain barrier.

Lead in breast milk presents another risk to a newborn child. A person who has been exposed to lead when they were a child can have poor performance in abstract reasoning, cognitive flexibility, verbal memory, verbal fluency, and fine motor speed as an adult. There has actually been research that shows that there have been adults who were tested 50 years after being exposed to lead, and they were still evidencing problems with abstract reasoning, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, verbal memory, and fine motor speed.

There are more issues with lead that could have been included here. The point is that there is no safe level of lead. Once the possibility of lead exposure is identified in a community, it is a serious problem that should be addressed sooner rather than later.

— Dr. Joseph Switras provides clinical psychological services at United Health District in Fairmont to people age 5 and up.