So there is all that talk about lead and other heavy metals lowering IQ in children’s brains, but I am wondering about the effect of toxic metals on adult brains, brains already fully developed. Does it have much less of an effect?
Also, is there a difference in terms of heavy metals being inhaled in air pollution or drunk in the water? Is inhalation or ingestion a more “effective” way of getting the heavy metals into your body? (“Effective” being bad, of course)
Maybe this should go in great debates, since this isn’t a simple type of question to anwer.
Different elements and compounds falling under the general category of “toxic heavy metals” (toxic elements and many organometallic compounds) have differing effects on neurophysiology, but yes, some can interfere with neurological function in adults including cadnium, lead, and methylmercury. Children are more vulnerable both because their brains and other organs are still developing and because they tend to injest more material from the environment due to poor hygiene, but adults can be seriously affected as well. One potential explanation for “Gulf War Syndrome” was exposure to a number of toxic compounds found in at least trace concentrations at various sites and the heavy use of organophosphate pesticides on standing water in marshy regions to prevent mosquito buildup.
In terms of uptake and bioreactivity, it depends on the element or compound in question, but many substances that are fairly inert in elemental form, such as liquid mercury, can become far more bioreactive in vapor form or in compounds which allow them to pass through the skin and be absorbed into the bloodstream, methylmercury being a particular offender. Generally speaking, compounds in water tend to have lower levels of absorption and low residency in the body than those utilized in plant or animal material that is then consumed as food or inhaled as vapor or fine dust where it may reside in the mucas membranes or lungs and slowly break down over weeks and months.
Stranger
Did others on this board, as me, play with mercury as kids, making amalgams out of lead/antimony/arsenic? Just wondering…