Lead on Lead on Lead (part 1 of 5)

This week we’re talking about lead.

A few weeks ago Nestle India recalled a bunch of their Maggi noodles over claims of lead contamination. The company is set to destroy almost 25,000 tons of the noodles. Nestle India says it will take at least 40 days to burn all the product, making this one of the largest food recalls ever.

Much like Metallica, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, lead is a heavy metal. It’s soft, malleable, resistive to corrosion and easy to extract, making it ideal to work with. Up until very recently lead was the go-to additive for many things. Significant production of lead began more than 3000 years ago and we used it without restrictions right up to the 70’s.

So what’s the problem here?

Lead is toxic. It can cause serious health problems for children and adults alike. So you can see how it would be problematic to have lead as a main ingredient in paint, fertilizers, make-up and tin cans. Even the Romans used to put it in their wine as a sweetener (but we’ll get to all that tomorrow).

These days lead use is regulated, and very minuscule amounts of lead have been determined as safe in certain things. The EPA regulates acceptable levels of lead in drinking water and the FDA regulates lead levels in food. Depending on where you live there are different regulatory bodies that determine what’s safe and what is not.

Since so many things were made with lead for such a long period of time it’s not uncommon to find older products and materials contaminated with lead. For instance, many older homes that haven’t been updated may have lead in their pipes.

Lead pipes that carry water throughout the house, and maybe even to the kitchen sink from which someone might grab a drink.

Lead isn’t just a problem abroad. It’s a problem right at home too.

Over the next couple of posts we’ll take a closer look at lead; from its health effects, to when it became regulated to how the standards vary depending on where you live.

-A

(image: http://bit.ly/1FKvY4g)