Lead in Albacore: Guide to Lead Pollution in Americans

Abstract

Pb contamination in canned tuna, exceeding natural concentrations 10,000-fold, went undiscovered for decades because of analytical error. The magnitude of this pollution effect helps explain the difference between the Pb concentration in the diets of present-day Americans (0.2 ppm) and in the diets of prehistoric peoples (estimated to be less than 0.002 ppm). It also explains how skeletal concentrations of Pb in typical Americans became elevated 500-fold above the natural concentrations measured in bones of Peruvians who lived in an unpolluted environment 1800 yr ago. It has been tacitly assumed that natural biochemical effects of Pb in human cells have been studied, but this is not so because reagents, nutrients and controls used in laboratory and field studies have been unknowingly contaminated with Pb far in excess of naturally occurring levels. An unrecognized form of poisoning caused by this excessive exposure to Pb may affect most Americans because magnitudes of biochemical dysfunctions are proportional to degrees of exposure.