Lead toxicity was first recorded as early as 250 BC when physician Nikander of Colophon associated acute lead poisoning with paralysis and anemia (Riva et al. 2012). From the industrial revolution to the 19th-century chronic lead poisoning was a common hazard with people working in the mines, manufacturing systems, or painters. In 1839 French physician Louis Tanquerel des Planches analyzed 1200 cases of lead poisoning from workers exposed to lead fumes (Riva et al. 2012). Lead poisoning continued into the 20th century, with international instances of lead poisoning among children due to lead paint. In 1904 ophthalmologist John Lockhard Gibson observed high blood lead levels in Austrian children believed to be from exposure to lead-based paint in the children’s homes. Australia banned lead-based paint in residential houses in 1914 (Needleman). Lead-based paint was not banned in the United States until the 1970s. In 1943 Dr. Randolph Beyers, an American neurologist, linked lead poisoning to children with behavioral disorders and the intellectually impaired (Needleman). During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, publications continued to increase worldwide on children’s behavioral and developmental effects by lead (Needleman).
Regulations began for the first time in lead exposure protection with screening programs and mandatory testing (Needleman). In 1991 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determined 10 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dl) would be the blood lead level (BLL). The American Academy of Pediatrics’ continued research stated that impaired cognitive functions could be recognized in children with a BLL below the standard and below 5 µg/dL. In 2012, the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention of the CDC declared no safe level of lead exposure and created a new reference of a BLL lower than 5 µg/dL (Datta. 2018).
Datta, R. Do we need to worry about lead contamination in our backyard. 2018
Riva, M., A. Lafranconi, M. D’Orso, and G. Cesana. 2012. Lead Poisoning: Historical Aspects of a Paradigmatic “Occupational and Environmental Disease”. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. 3:11-16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3430923/
Needleman, H. History of Lead Poisoning in the World. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/pdfs/health/Needleman_1999.pdf