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QUESTION: Is a persistent sweet taste in the mouth a symptom of lead poisoning? 07 May 2004, Indiana USA i have been told that one of the things that might be associated with lead exposure is a sweet taste in the mouth that you cant get rid of. Is this true? |
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ANSWER: 07 May 2004 Dear Mrs Jones, There has been some discussion on the Global Lead Network (an e-group for 600 lead poisoning prevention professionals and advocates) on the sweetness of lead and here are all the comments, though none of them really answers your question, despite me putting your question to the e-group. If an answer comes in, I will pass it on. I knew that lead paint can taste sweet and I understand that it is specifically the lead acetate (also called "sugar of lead") which forms when lead metal is steeped in vinegar (acetic acid) in order to create the pigment for paint. As for a lingering sweet taste, I have only ever heard that lead (eg fumes from lead smelters) leaves a metallic taste in the mouth. Perhaps what some people call metallic, others call sweet. I have placed the most specific answer to your question first. EMAIL ONE: We have been involved in several projects and have found that the sweet taste of lead does stay for at least a while with workers who were working on lead bearing surfaces and producing dusts and fumes. However, we are not aware of any studies to show how long the sweet taste lasts. Richard A. Baker EMAIL TWO: AZ CLPPP was recently on an environmental investigation for a child who is a refugee from Africa. The Mom saw her daughter eating paint off of buildings in the African refugee camp and said (through an interpreter) that the paint was sweet. I have heard elsewhere that lead paint has a sweet taste and am wondering if anybody knows if that is true. And if so, a scientific reason as to why. Jason Mihalic EMAIL THREE: One of our public health nurses remembers specifically enjoying eating lead chips from her home and chomping on the windowsill because the lead tasted so sweet. (She was a child then, of course, and we didn't know about lead the way we do now.) She can remember the taste, even now. Maybe if lead paint tasted like liver the kids wouldn't be lead poisoned. Jane Contello EMAIL FOUR: Yes it tastes like sweet tarts, a popular candy here in the states. Linda Kite lkite(AT)psr(DOT)org EMAIL FIVE: Under the "artificial sweeteners" section of Cardiff University, UK it says: "Salts of lead and beryllium also taste sweet." Mike Martin EMAIL SIX: Lead's long history is filled with examples of lead salts' sweetness being exploited--with unhealthy consequences: in Roman times due to chefs' preferences for cooking sauces in lead pots to impart sweetness, two hundred years ago in Europe as a wine adulterant and so on. My book "Brush with Death", p. 184, describes public health officials "experiments" and observations on the sweetness of lead. One official claimed it had a sweet taste--"kind of like a cordial candy" A doctor in D.C. reported having seen children put their sticky lollipops against a peeling painted wall, then licking the paint that adhered in a layer to their candy! --Chris Christian Warren, Ph.D. I hope this helps. |
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