#AskTamara: What is the impact of lead poisoning in adults, including college age students?

ByTamara Posted: Updated:
23 Comments
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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead-poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

Published: September of 2014
Updated: January 7, 2017

Below is a post I originally wrote and shared in September of 2014 (slightly updated.)  Hopefully you will also take a look at the links below as there are several studies of interest that may also answer your questions.  As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

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What is the impact of lead poisoning in adults, including college age students?

Are adults often poisoned? How? What does that look like?

While the primary focus of my work as a lead poisoning prevention advocate and activist has always been on lead and its toxic impacts on young children it is important to note that lead can have equally devastating impacts on adults – both younger adults and older adults.

It is also important to note that while the most talked about impact of lead in children is the neurotoxic impacts (the ability for lead to cause damage to the developing brain) – science has long shown that the brain (especially the frontal lobe and elements of the brain that are responsible for functions that we most associate with our “human-ness”—empathy, reason and judgement) is growing and developing through age 25.

Lead has also been shown to pass the blood-brain barrier, which underscores the danger of potential for profound impacts on those whose brains are still developing, regardless of age.

So the potential neurotoxic impacts of lead that are a concern for young children are also a concern for young adults through their college years.

What are the symptoms of adult lead exposure?

Just some of the potential long-term negative health impacts of exposure to lead (from both from low-level sustained residential/everyday or professional/industrial sources) include:

  • Neurocognitive Impacts –  including early onset Alzheimer’s, ADD/ ADHD, memory issues, difficulty concentrating
  • Heart Health Compromises – including increased risk of heart-attack
  • Liver & Kidney function Issues – including kidney failure and increased risk of diabetes
  • Reproductive Disorders – including increased risk of miscarriage/ erectile dysfunction / inability to conceive

The above are considered “long-term” issues—as they are health effects that may not begin to show up during the specific time-frame of exposure – but [depending on the length of exposure – especially if the duration of exposure is measured in months or years (such as 1, 2, 3 or 4 years in a lead-contaminated college housing)] they have a statistically significantly higher possibility of showing up with varying levels of severity later in life as the result of an earlier exposure.

Additionally, immediate physical symptoms—of even low-level lead exposure—[especially in a sustained, daily dose, as might be caused by lead dust hazards in student housing on campus, and in the daily environment of a teacher working in school with persistent lead-hazards; lead in soil (on shoes, hands or clothing from daily gardening)] include:

  • Headaches
  • General Malaise
  • Digestive Issues
  • Dizziness
  • Vomiting
  • Difficulty Concentrating
  • Seizure
  • Compromised Immune System
  • Joint inflammation / arthritis
  • Spontaneous Abortion/ Miscarriage
  • Inability to Conceive –  and more

In the space below I am going to post as many links as I can find relevant to the specific concerns of later childhood/ early adulthood and ongoing adulthood lead exposure and symptoms.

If you know of a relevant study that supports the above statements, please share with me in the comments on this post.

This post was assembled to support a friend whose child was attending college and was given a mandatory housing assignment in housing that contained significant lead hazards (at a very expensive, top-notch, private, ivy-league quality university.)

Thank you.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

Note: Frustratingly, many of the academic papers that address these concerns seem to be accessible on the Internet only under the current [expletive deleted] desperate, “fund-it-yourself” model of academic and scientific research (!), but here are a few of the relevant references that one can view without expense:

  1. This article is a good background on the impact of low-level lead exposure. It also discusses the impact on a child’s academic performance and has an extensive reference list at the end of the article. LINK HERE.
  2. Lead Exposure in Adults – A Guide for HealthCare Providers: https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2584/
  3. 2007; Recommendations for Medical Management of Adult Lead Exposure: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/olppp/Documents/medmanagement.pdf
  4. Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry; Toxic Substances Portal – Lead: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=93&tid=22
  5. Adult Lead Poisoning: http://www.uptodate.com/contents/adult-lead-poisoning

For those just beginning this inquiry, I always recommend looking up the following researchers and their work for additional information:  Dr. Bruce Lanphear, Drs. Ted Lidsky & Jay Schneider, Dr. Felicia Rabito,&  Dr. Michael Kosnett.

I shared the above post with Dr. Lidsky and he responded with the following additional studies that may be of interest to my readers:

  1. Neurotoxicology. 2011 Jan;32(1):110-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2010.11.002. Epub 2010 Nov 17.Blood lead levels in relation to cognitive function in older U.S. adults.
    van Wijngaarden E1, Winters PC, Cory-Slechta DA.
  2. Environ Health Perspect. 2010 Apr;118(4):505-10. doi: 10.1289/ehp.0901115. Epub 2009 Nov 6.Interaction of stress, lead burden, and age on cognition in older men: the VA Normative Aging Study.Peters JL1, Weisskopf MG, Spiro A 3rd, Schwartz J, Sparrow D, Nie H, Hu H, Wright RO,Wright RJ.
  3. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2009 Nov-Dec;31(6):364-71. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2009.08.003. Epub 2009 Aug 15.  Lead and cognitive function in ALAD genotypes in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  Krieg EF Jr1, Butler MA, Chang MH, Liu T, Yesupriya A, Lindegren ML, Dowling N; CDC/NCI NHANES III Genomics Working Group.
  4. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2009;72(10):625-32. doi: 10.1080/15287390902769410.Neurocognitive screening of lead-exposed andean adolescents and young adults.
    Counter SA1, Buchanan LH, Ortega F.
  5. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Mar;115(3):483-92. Epub 2006 Dec 22.Cumulative lead dose and cognitive function in adults: a review of studies that measured both blood lead and bone lead.
    Shih RA1, Hu H, Weisskopf MG, Schwartz BS.
  6. Effects of lead on the adult brain: a 15-year e… [Am J Ind Med. 2007] – PubMed – NCBI 2007 Oct;50(10):729-39.  Effects of lead on the adult brain: a 15-year exploration. Stewart WF1,Schwartz BS.
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23 Comments

  2. Hi Tamara – I love you!! Just found this site after a friend posted a vintage Tupperware warning. Thank you Thank You for your diligence, teaching style, and all of the fantastic work you are doing!
    I grew up in the 50’s and was exposed to lots of nasty stuff – Dad was a great believer in garden chemicals. I have a ton of health issues (arthritis, fibromyalgia, neuropathy) – not fun. I’m wondering if there are tests for toxins and if there are ways to clear your body from things like lead, cadmium, mercury (I am rid of those old fillings, but have a lot of gold in my mouth) and also for chemicals like chlordane, dioxin, weed killer (not sure if glyphosate was around then) etc. oh, and can I adopt you?

    Reply

    1. Hi Pam!

      Thank you for commenting.

      Please adopt me! Lol. Although you are probably not old enough to be my mother. My (late)mother was born in 1942. I’ve been trying to find someone to adopt us for forever – since our kids are currently out of grandparents (no grandparents for the past few years now.)

      In terms of tests for heavy metals you can ask most doctors to do a provoked urine test or a hair test. With the provoked urine test they usually do one test, followed by some form of natural chelation or diet changes, followed by another test 30 to 90 days later to see if they can measure excretion or at least a change in levels.

      Given your arthritis I would also recommend a blood lead test (BLL), because post-menopausal women do start re-circulating lead in their blood (lead that was absorbed by their bones and tissues during childhood and young adulthood.) There’s a fairly through discussion of blood lead testing here on the following link, you want to ask for the most accurate test possible with the lowest level of detection and the smallest margin of error. If I were you I would want to know if I was a BLL 0.5 or 1.1, not a more generic “less than 5.0” the testing limit that is often used for test with many adult females: https://tamararubin.com/2019/02/blood-lead-testing-please-get-everyone-in-the-family-tested-since-you-have-been-living-in-a-house-with-high-lead-paint/

      I am a firm believer in diet-based interventions. As far as I can see from the science out there – we should all eat as much garlic as we (and our loved ones – lol) can tolerate!

      Here’s a post I have about natural chelation: https://tamararubin.com/2017/01/natural-chelation/ There’s a link there to a study involving chickens and garlic that is worth reading.

      The concern with a lot of chelation is that many of the supplements or substances that various movements say may help in one way or another may also themselves be contaminated with high levels of Lead (by the very nature of the substance and their alleged properties / alleged capabilities for chelating lead from the body.)

      Please let me know if you have any other questions. Positive comments are so very welcome during times like this, where a large percentage of the comments on social media and my blog are angry detractors not willing to see this work as “simply sharing facts” but who see my findings as personal attacks on their childhood and their memories.

      Tamara

      Reply

    2. Hi Pam – have you found an answer to testing and detoxing? I just got my results back Oct 2023, from Synapse Center for Health and Healing. I did a Total Tax Burden Test and have VERY HIGH levels of Lead along with Antimony, Cadmium, Cesium, and Platinum. Believing this to be from the ceramic cookware I bought Nov 2022. Absolutely disturbed over the claim to be metal free and now I’m suffering with terrible memory issues, ADHD-like symptoms, vision issues and now trying to detox from it all. Synapse is in Eagan, MN – go online and book a free consult. You won’t regret it!!! I just received my detox protocol and am praying for a miracle recovery!! So much for researching “non-toxic cookware” and getting the truth. Very thankful for Lead Mama!!! I also have high glyphosate! Used to live near a corn field! Get detoxed!

      Reply

    1. Hi Leisa,

      Here’s an example of the orange that I have tested: https://tamararubin.com/2019/03/another-vintage-tupperware-example-orange-bowl-with-lid-3380-ppm-cadmium-935-ppm-mercury-both-are-poisons-for-humans-3/

      Here’s another example:https://tamararubin.com/2019/03/another-vintage-tupperware-example-orange-bowl-with-lid-3380-ppm-cadmium-935-ppm-mercury-both-are-poisons-for-humans/

      Is yours the same color? It is really dependent on the color and the year of manufacture, but the year of manufacture is unknown for many of the pieces as they are not marked, so I understand it is difficult to tell.

      This post might be helpful too: https://tamararubin.com/2019/03/asktamara-how-can-i-tell-if-my-vintage-tupperware-plastic-cups-are-toxic-by-color-by-shape-by-age/

      Tamara

      Reply

      1. Speaking of color, makes me think of the colorants added to silicone spatulas and spoonulas — how safe are they (past and present)?
        Over the last 30 years, I’ve accumulated a collection of Cuisinart (pale blue), Williams Sonoma (clear, burnt orange, red), and others recently sold by Wegmans (bright yellow, purple).

        I know the market is awash with spatulas & spoonulas of every size and color right now, aside from what you’ve covered here: https://tamararubin.com/category/silicone-spatula/
        …will you have time to continue researching more?

        Reply

  4. I’m very grateful for having found all this information just now, and for the work you’re sharing. As I can relate in your report above, I am a victim of years of exposure to toxic waste in toxic environments, having suffered for over 20 years with symptoms and medical disorders that you describe, unable to understand, at that time, how I acquired them. Began seeing a functional medicine practitioner/certified nutrition specialist last spring and am amazed by improvements I’ve had in my health. Recently did a mineral and heavy metal test on the “Oligoscan” as part of my doctor’s heavy metal detoxification program. Looking forward to continue engaging in better, healthier habits while checking out the links you posts. Thanks again!

    Reply

  5. Tamara,
    First, thank you so much for all you do. I read all your stuff and find it so relevant and impactful to our lives. Second, I saw your frustration about the academic articles. I have also had this frustration at my work being a public sector researcher. My thought- if you have kiddos in college they should have access to their library systems that will give you free access to all these journals. With break coming up for the holidays, maybe they could login and download some of this stuff for you (a nice present for the season!). I always hire grad students for this reason! They can get me access to their incredible libraries, which includes free access to many electronic journal publications.
    All the best!

    Reply

  8. I learned about you because a dear friend has high levels of lead and is being treated, this caused me to inform my self of the dangers of lead. Thank you so much for dedication about lead exposure in children and in all the many household items we touch every day..
    My question; do I consider my every day fine China made by Mikasa :Autumn Grove pattern high in lead. It was manufactured 1994thru 1995?

    Reply

    1. Hi Deedee! Thanks for commenting.

      I have not tested all of the patterns but I would not use ANY Mikasa from the mid-1990s.

      T

      Reply

  9. This is so… interesting. Overwhelming? Appreciated! Nuts~ I come from a family with no particular hx of any “major” health issues. My grandmother was diabetic, and upon reflection, I’m sure she was ADHD, as was my mom, and I am as well. One of my sons clearly is, but he at 29 and a recent nursing school grad still denies it! 🙂 At something like 51, I was diagnosed with CPPD (Calcium Pyrophosphate Dihydrate Deposition disease), a form of arthritis, possibly related to calcium/magnesium imbalance although there is no definitive cause isolated. It can lead to joint destruction over a fairly short amount of time. I had my right hip replaced in 2018, and have needed both shoulder replaced for 2 plus years. Hospital space has been at a premium due to the pandemic, although I have an appointment later this year for one shoulder. None of this runs in my family. I am hypothyroid, although my mom was as well.
    I have spent so much time online, trying to find reasons for the things that are going on with me! Your website it amazing, and so very much appreciated! I may have found some possible trail-heads (I’m from Portland also, and used to love to hike!). Now I live in central Washington State.
    I’m sure this will give you chills as the mom whose children experienced acute lead poisoning. As a very, very small child, I recall looking out of the French-paned windows of our NE 41st Street home while licking the recently painted frames. The fresh, ivory-colored paint had a particular taste that as a child I found attractive. I was probably 1.5 years old (long memory).
    Thank you again for so much effort into this exhaustive subject!

    Reply

  12. A lot of the discussions about lead exposure refer to children putting things in their mouths; but it was only until COVID-19 did people admit that adults also frequently touch their mouths without washing their hands; and often do so unconsciously! It’s pretty common for adults to touch and fidget with jewelry, and then maybe touch their face; and then touch their face and then their mouth. Maybe we touch things and then touch our personal devices and computers, or steering wheels; then later touch those items and touch our mouths or food or maybe even certain other body parts.

    I would imagine it’s worse for people with beards, which are good at trapping dust, crumbs, and germs. They might also trap leaded dust between work and lunch, for those whose work exposes them to lead.

    This needs to be taken into consideration with the limitations on lead on consumer products, such limitations do not take into account normal human behavior.

    Reply

    1. There are several documented cases where a child has been poisoned with the primary source being lead dust trapped in dad’s beard (bringing home industrial / workplace contamination – and not showering / changing clothes before hugging baby or playing with baby at the end of the work day.)

      Tamara

      Reply

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