- The ARC - California Edition -

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor: Recently I heard something about vegetables in the growing stage being able to take on lead from contaminated soil. Do you have any information on this? Thanks, Tom

Dear Reader: I am not familiar with any literature that directly discusses the approach to how LEAD may get into our food system. It is my opinion that this might be possible with some types of plants, BUT then why does it not show up in the LEAD content testing of processed foods. LEAD content in food and water is an area that gets a lot of testing – especially in the processed foods for infants. I do not recall LEAD as being a major issue in the recent reports I have seen about agriculture crop testing.

A lot of testing has gone on over the last 35 years related to LEAD in the soil. The hot spots are usually alongside heavily traveled roadways, next to old painted buildings, and near areas where LEAD is used in the manufacture of a product. This has been correlated to the impact on humans through testing for the level of LEAD that gets into their blood in those exposure areas.

The most frequent cause of childhood LEAD exposure is linked to LEAD in paint. I expect this will continue to be the case until all of the pre-1980 painted homes and buildings are long gone as their paint chips are considered to be the source. For this reason, paint will continue to be the source of any high levels of LEAD which might be found in a family garden.

There have been numerous steps taken in this country to reduce the human exposure to LEAD. Initiatives are in place which require the removal of LEAD from paint, from gasoline, from ceramic dishes, and from solder when used in water system plumbing, or in the soldering of cans used for food products. In California, it is illegal to expose any person to LEAD without "clear and reasonable warning" since LEAD is officially listed as a reproductive toxin.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) people involved in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), there has been a four-to-one decrease in blood LEAD levels of the US population between 1976 and 1991 (see JAMA, July 27, 1994). This is good news. However in 1991, the CDC took steps to lower the acceptable blood LEAD levels for medical intervention from 25 mg/dl to 10 mg/dl. Their group of experts concluded that behavioral and learning difficulties are occurring at lower levels than previously considered safe for humans.

Dear Editor: Can children can get LEAD poisoning from a LEAD pencil point broken off in their skin. That isn't LEAD in pencils any more, is it?

Dear Reader: A child will not get LEAD poisoning from the pencil point since they use graphite to make LEAD pencils, not LEAD. And graphite is not toxic to humans.

Way back, my g,g,g,g,g,g,great grandpappy used a thin metal rod to imprint his writings. It was called a stylus. These stylus rods were often made of LEAD. Not too long after Columbus came over this way, people started using sticks of graphite for their writings. These sticks were wrapped with string to keep the graphite from breaking. Later they imbedded the sticks into wood housings.

Today's writing cores are a mixture of graphite and clay. The ratio of graphite to clay is used to adjust the hardness and darkness. Graphite is from the carbon family, contains no LEAD, and is considered to be non-toxic. Here in California, the boxes that pencils come in do not have a warning label, which is a sign that they do not contain LEAD. The mineral LEAD is a known reproductive toxin and can also do serious harm to small children.