Case Study Title
Environmental Toxicology
Case Summary
3 Mount Isa Children were found to have excessive (2-3 times more than the international safety limit) of lead in their blood causing permanent neurological damage. An inquiry into environmental lead exposure was conducted against Xstrata’s Mount Isa Mines Ltd lead emittance, who firmly stand that the lead was “naturally occurring” and not a consequence of mining. As subsequent years follow, more children are found to have dangerous lead levels in their blood, raising more suspicion, but Queensland Health and Xstrata are turning a blind eye to the concern.
Suspected toxic substance
Common name is Lead, the trade name is Plumbum, and CAS number is 7439-92-1
Chemical properties: reactive …show more content…
The reduced form of GSH donates an electron to reactive oxygen species in order to stabilise them, and then the now reactive GSH readily combines with another GSH molecule to form glutathione disulphide (GSSG) in the presence of enzyme glutathione peroxidase. In lead induced oxidative stress GSSG concentrations are higher than GSH. (Flora, Gupta and Tiwari, 2012) Lead inactivates the glutathione by binding to the sulfhydryl group on glutathione reductase, acting as a toxic ligand to block the binding site for GSSG and inhibits reduction back to GSH causing the reactive oxygen species to be in excess (Kathuria and Rowden, 2016; Zitka et al., …show more content…
There are no known benefits to lead for the human body and no safe exposure levels discovered, with particular regards to since there is unlikely to be any safe threshold for exposure for them, since effects can be detected with blood lead levels of under 5µg/dL. By introducing unleaded petrol’s in 2000, there has been a significant decrease in average lead levels in the blood in multiple countries and occupational exposure has been controlled in many countries, with improved working conditions and safety standards. But environmental exposure is a major global health hazard, and with the increasing industrialisation, environmental exposure rates and presence of lead, it is more than likely going to be a continued issue, considering environmental exposure levels have risen in children since 1892 (Tong, von Schirnding and Prapamontol,