Origin of Lead in the United States Diet

We report 208Pb/207Pb and 206Pb/207Pb ratios for 1001 duplicate diets collected from mothers and children, 1304 samples of house dust and hand wipes, and 64 samples of aerosols that were taken in Omaha, Nebraska, during the period from 1990 to 1997. A plot of 208Pb/207Pb versus 206Pb/207Pb for the d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2005-11, Vol.39 (22), p.8995-9000
Main Authors: Manton, William I, Angle, Carol R, Stanek Krogstrand, Kaye L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aerosols
Biological and medical sciences
Diet
Dietary Supplements - analysis
Dust
Environmental Monitoring
Female
Food toxicology
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Lead
Lead - analysis
Lead content
Medical sciences
Mining
Product Packaging
Risk Factors
Toxicology
United States
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Summary:We report 208Pb/207Pb and 206Pb/207Pb ratios for 1001 duplicate diets collected from mothers and children, 1304 samples of house dust and hand wipes, and 64 samples of aerosols that were taken in Omaha, Nebraska, during the period from 1990 to 1997. A plot of 208Pb/207Pb versus 206Pb/207Pb for the dust and hand wipes indicates that they contain lead from ores mined in Idaho, Missouri, and Mexico. The absence of lead from Utah suggests that this mixture is not representative of the whole country. The lead in the aerosols has a narrower range of isotope ratios and resembles aerosols collected elsewhere in the United States. Most dietary collections contain a large component of house dust. Some, especially those from infants, are dominated by uranogenic lead with high 206Pb/207Pb ratios. Its source is taken to be calcium-supplemented food where the calcium is derived from limestone. Another source of lead is thorogenic and is ascribed to lead in tin coatings. Agricultural lead, whether from soil (estimated from recently published analyses of sedimentary materials), fertilizer, or agricultural lime, could not be unambiguously identified in the diets. Lead derived from aerosols, if present at all, is insignificant.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/es051145e