Absence of Significant Chromosome Damage in Males Occupationally Exposed to Lead

Abstract

THE hazard to man of environmental contamination by certain metals is of considerable importance and in this context the organic and inorganic compounds of lead are the subject of much current interest. The clinical effects on the individual of accidental overexposure to lead are well known. What is perhaps not so widely realised, however, is that there is the possibility that high lead levels may be hazardous to the foetus of exposed parents. “Intoxication with lead” is often quoted as “reducing fertility and increasing the frequency of abortions and miscarriages” in man^1–5, and some animal studies have shown⁶ that administration of lead salts may result in an increase in congenitally malformed offspring. These findings, the reported carcinogenicity of lead salts in rats⁷, and the earlier reports that salts of a variety of heavy metals induce aberrations in plant chromosomes^8,9, have stimulated a number of in vitro and in vivo studies into the possible mutagenic effects of lead which have yielded conflicting results.