Lead in Our
                        Vegetables
 

You may not be aware that the vegetables that we eat can absorb a significant amount of toxic metals from the soil. When the plant is actively growing, these toxic metal are constantly being taken up by the roots and moved to  all parts of the plant. One of the most harmful soil mineral we need to be concerned about is lead.

              Why Should We Worry About Lead?

We worry because the effects of lead are toxic to our brains. The bad effects are long lasting  (possible throughout your life), irreversible and permanent.

                What Is This Thing Called Lead?
 

Soil in its natural state contains very small amounts of lead. High toxic accumulations in our soil are the direct result of human activities. Lead is an inert element, stable and occurs naturally in very small amounts in the soil. It is not biodegradable, which means that it stays in its current soil location forever until it is moved around by humans, animals or surface water. Lead is a totally useless element because our bodies do not need it for any basic cell function, unlike many other minerals. Our bodies do not and cannot use lead in any way or form.

The vegetables that we buy in the produce section can also contain lead. Vegetables choked full of lead do look different from those that are not.

Lead does not usually concentrate in the flower parts. Those vegetables that develop from the ovary such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, etc. are generally quite safe to eat even if grown in contaminated soil.

Leafy and root vegetables, on the other hand, may harbor dangerous unknown amounts of lead. Vegetables such as kale, collards, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli; and root vegetables such as carrots, radish, potatoes and beets are lead traps; and can contain significant amounts of lead.
 

         How  Do We Know That The Vegetables That


          We Eat Are Contaminated With Lead?

You will know this only from plant tissue testing. As recent as in 1999, FDA officials in Washington State discovered dangerously high lead content in a batch of frozen garden vegetable mix sold in a retail food store during a routine sampling test. The source of the lead contamination was eventually traced back to carrots in the vegetable mix. These toxic carrots came from a vegetable farm that previously was an old abandoned fruit orchard. Soil lead buildup in this orchard occurred from many years of fruit tree spraying with lead arsenate-based insecticide. This insecticide approved for use at that time is now banned. Toxic soil produces toxic carrots.

                  What Lead level Is Considered Safe?
 

According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a safe lead level for children is less than 10 microgram per deciliter. For adults, the level was set at 25 micrograms or less. This is contrary to recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, that reported that kids with blood lead at or below the CDC guidelines levels, still showed a decline in I.Q. tests. This leaves us in doubt as to how low should the level be and whether CDC guidelines for lead exposure can be trusted.