Human Environment Lead Emissions and Emission Trends

Lead in the Human Environment Lead Emissions and Emission Trends 

This chapter provides the connection between the annual and cumulative U.S. and global lead production and consumption figures presented in Chapter 3 and figures in the next two chapters, those for fate and transport of emitted lead through environmental compartments (Chapter 5) and levels of lead in environmental media relevant to human lead exposures (Chapter 6). These three chapters collectively provide a quantitative sense of what amounts of lead entering the broad channels of the U.S. and global commerce have been translated downstream of production or use into levels of lead contamination in the human environment and associated exposures in, at least, the near term. 

Lead emission rates in terms of annualized tonnages are described here for mainly contemporary industrialized/industrializing societies emission rates. Data for earlier centuries or millennia are not available. Investigators examining such matters instead are confined to comparative contamination chronologies to evaluate current levels of media-specific Pb and relative changes in these concentrations over time as discerned from media that reflect such changes. Levels of lead in environmental media that contribute to current human exposures are the main subject of Chapter 6. 

Trace Metals and other Contaminants in the Environment, Volume 10 

Within recent decades we can evaluate measured and modeled short-term lead emission rates and trends in these near-term rates, especially for uses which have changed greatly with technological changes. Those efforts are the focus of this chapter. 

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