Lead
Lead: What is it?
Lead is a heavy metal that is highly malleable and toxic. Also, it is highly resistant to corrosion, so is used in construction, batteries , bullets , weights, pewter , and fusible alloys . However, it can also be found in ground and drinking water along with other heavy metal pollutants due to acid mine drainage. This is almarming because It is a known potent neurotoxin that accumulates in soft tissues and bone over time, which can lead to serious health concerns.
Effects: Health
Like Mercury, once in the body this neurotoxin can cause blood and brain disorders and damages nerve connections, especially in young children, because they are still physically and mentally developing. Moreover, children absorb lead more easily than adults, making them even more susceptible to the affects of lead. Short-term exposure to high levels can cause diarrhea, convulsions, vomiting, and coma. Long term exposure can also lead to nephropathy (disease of damage of the kidneys), and is also linked to schizophrenia. Over exposure results in lead poisoning that inhibits vital functions from taking place inside the body, such as heme synthesis.
Effects: Environment
Small amounts of lead are found naturally in the environment, but adding even the smallest amount to this can create devastating consequences for wildlife. When lead is added to soil and water due to human activities such as mining, water and soil organisms are easily contaminated. Small creatures such as shellfish and phytoplankton suffer from lead poisoning just as humans do, only it takes far less contamination to devastate such organisms because of their small size. This in turn affects larger sea animals who rely on these for food. Furthermore, phytoplankton is an important source of oxygen production in seas, again showing their importance for larger sea animals. The situation is the same for fresh-water animals, with water fowl being most affected by the chronic contamination of aquatic ecosystems with lead.
The Solution
Eden Initiative has the technology, ability, and desire to eliminate lead from our environment. Our mission is to clean lead from abandoned mining sites within North America, and eventually, all over the world. By removing the toxin from such sites, we stop it from leeching into our watersheds and oceans, contaminating our marine life, and ultimately us.