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Lead Surveillance
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About Lead Surveillance
Lead is a heavy metal that has been used industrially for thousands of years.
-It is pale silvery grey when freshly cut but it darkens on exposure to air. It is heavy, malleable, and a poor conductor of electricity. Lead may be used in its pure metallic form or combined chemically with other elements to form lead compounds.
Lead in using
- Metallic lead is used to make products such as electric storage batteries, ammunition, lead solder, radiation shields, pipes, and sheaths for electric cables.
- Metallic lead is sometimes combined with other metals such as copper, tin, and antimony to make lead alloys for use in the manufacture of a variety of metal products.
The most widely used organic lead compounds are TEL (tetraethyl lead) and TML (tetramethyl lead) which are colourless, oily liquids, used as anti-knock agents in gasoline. Other organic lead compounds include lead “soaps” used as high-pressure lubricants.
Inorganic lead compounds (or lead salts) result when lead is combined with an element other than carbon; examples are lead oxide and lead nitrates. Inorganic lead compounds may occur as solids or liquid solutions, and are used in insecticides, pigments, paints, frits, glasses, plastics and rubber compounds.
Lead can cause serious damage to a number of systems in the body. Overexposure to lead can affect the blood, the kidneys, the gastrointestinal system, the nervous system and the reproductive system. Like many other poisons, lead may be harmful following a high dose received in a short period of time (acute poisoning), or after long term exposure to lower doses (chronic poisoning).
Lead may affect the health of workers if it is in a form that may be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin. Such forms may include: lead dust, lead fumes, lead-containing mists, liquids, and vapours of liquid organic lead compounds. Occupations such as automobile refinishing, battery manufacturing, foundry work with brass or bronze and paint manufacture are susceptible to danger from exposure to lead.
Lead is a heavy metal that has been used industrially for thousands of years.
-It is pale silvery grey when freshly cut but it darkens on exposure to air. It is heavy, malleable, and a poor conductor of electricity. Lead may be used in its pure metallic form or combined chemically with other elements to form lead compounds.
Lead in using
- Metallic lead is used to make products such as electric storage batteries, ammunition, lead solder, radiation shields, pipes, and sheaths for electric cables.
- Metallic lead is sometimes combined with other metals such as copper, tin, and antimony to make lead alloys for use in the manufacture of a variety of metal products.
The most widely used organic lead compounds are TEL (tetraethyl lead) and TML (tetramethyl lead) which are colourless, oily liquids, used as anti-knock agents in gasoline. Other organic lead compounds include lead “soaps” used as high-pressure lubricants.
Inorganic lead compounds (or lead salts) result when lead is combined with an element other than carbon; examples are lead oxide and lead nitrates. Inorganic lead compounds may occur as solids or liquid solutions, and are used in insecticides, pigments, paints, frits, glasses, plastics and rubber compounds.
Lead can cause serious damage to a number of systems in the body. Overexposure to lead can affect the blood, the kidneys, the gastrointestinal system, the nervous system and the reproductive system. Like many other poisons, lead may be harmful following a high dose received in a short period of time (acute poisoning), or after long term exposure to lower doses (chronic poisoning).
Lead may affect the health of workers if it is in a form that may be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin. Such forms may include: lead dust, lead fumes, lead-containing mists, liquids, and vapours of liquid organic lead compounds. Occupations such as automobile refinishing, battery manufacturing, foundry work with brass or bronze and paint manufacture are susceptible to danger from exposure to lead.