Physiologically based modeling of lead kinetics: a pilot study using data from a Canadian population.

The Canadian population is currently subject to low, chronic lead exposure and an understanding of its effects is of great significance to the population's health. Such low exposure is difficult to measure directly; approximation by physiologically based modeling may provide a preferable approach to population analysis. The O'Flaherty model of lead kinetics is based on an age-dependent approach to human growth and development and devotes special attention to bone turnover rates. Because lead is a bone-seeking element, the model was deemed ideal for such an analysis. Sample from 263 individuals of various ages from the Greater Toronto Area were selected to evaluate the applicability of the current version of the O'Flaherty model to populations with low lead exposure. For each individual, the input value of lead exposure was calibrated to match the output value of cortical bone lead to the individual's measured tibia lead concentration; the outputs for trabecular bone, blood, and plasma lead concentrations obtained from these calibrations were then compared with the subjects' measured calcaneus, blood, and serum lead concentrations, respectively. This indicated a need for revision of the model parameters; those for lead binding in blood and lead clearance from blood to bone were adjusted and new outputs were obtained in the same fashion as before. Model predictions of trabecular lead concentration did not agree with measurements in the calcaneus. The outputs for blood and plasma lead concentrations were highly scattered and, on an individual level, inconsistent with corresponding measurements; however, the general trends of the outputs matched those of the measurements reasonably well, which indicates that the revised blood lead binding and lead clearance parameters may be useful in future studies. Overall, the analysis showed that with the revisions to the model discussed here, the model should be a useful tool in the analysis of human lead kinetics and body burden in populations characterized by low, chronic exposure to lead from the general environment.

Determination of the provenance of cocoa by soil protolith ages and assessment of anthropogenic lead contamination by pb/nd and lead isotope ratios.

The Pb contents of chocolate and the products it flavors are among the highest of all commonly consumed substances. Others have shown that this Pb is acquired by cocoa beans after harvesting and is concentrated in their shells, portions of which are ground up with the cotyledons during processing. It is shown here that the shells also contain the lanthanides Nd and Sm, which they appear to take up more slowly than Pb when dried on bare soil. Consideration of Pb/Nd ratios, model Sm-Nd ages and the isotope ratios of Pb and Sr indicates that, in the absence of contamination, the relationship between Pb and Nd in shells is y = 13.1x(-0.383), where x is the Nd concentration in microg/kg and y is the Pb/Nd ratio. For cocoa powders, the relationship is y = 114x(-0.988). Samples that plot above these curves are probably contaminated. Model ages indicate where the cocoa of cocoa powders is grown, and these same considerations point to African samples being uncontaminated but samples from Asia containing 50% anthropogenic Pb of Australian origin. No measurable Pb contamination occurs during the transport of beans and the manufacture of chocolate.

Correspondence: Sources of Lead in Cocoa and Chocolate and Authors' Response.

Correspondence on Sources of Lead in Cocoa and Chocolate and authors' response.

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 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.