Acute high-dose lead exposure from beverage contaminated by traditional Mexican pottery

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) Vol. 344; no. 8929; pp. 1064 - 1065
• Main Authors: Matte, T.D., Proops, D., Palazuelos, E., Graef, J., Hernandez Avila, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Elsevier Ltd 15.10.1994; Lancet; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Beverages; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Blood levels; Ceramics; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Containers; Contamination; Cooking and Eating Utensils; Diplomatic & consular services; Exposure; Female; Food Contamination; Food contamination & poisoning; Food toxicology; Fruit punch; Fruits; Health risks; Humans; Infant; Lead; Lead - blood; Lead exposure; Lead poisoning; Lead Poisoning - etiology; Male; Medical sciences; Mexico; Pottery; Toxicology; Tropical medicine; Urns; Young children; Central America; Mexico; America; Human; Lead; Poisoning; Beverage; Inorganic element; Child; Saturnism; Contamination
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(94)91715-9

Screening and follow-up blood lead measurements in a 7-year-old child of a US Embassy official in Mexico City revealed an increase in blood lead concentration from 1·10 to 4·60 μmol/L in less than 4 weeks. The cause was traced to fruit punch contaminated with lead leached from traditional ceramic pottery urns. Consumption of the contaminated punch at a picnic was associated with a 20% increase in blood lead concentrations among embassy staff and dependants who were tested 6 weeks after the exposure. This episode highlights the continued health risk, even from brief exposure, posed by traditional pottery in Mexico.