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Lead |
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Lead is a naturally occurring heavy metal once commonly used in gasoline and many household products. This past use has led to the widespread presence of lead in the environment, including in soil, food, water and dust inside older homes.
Sources of exposure
People's exposure to lead has greatly decreased over the past 25 years, due to the reduction or elimination of the use of lead in many products such as gasoline, paints, pipe and canned food.
Despite this progress, Toronto Public Health encourages people to reduce exposure to lead from all sources as much as possible. Lead has been found to cause subtle health effects even at low levels.
Most human exposure to lead is generally from sources such as lead-based paint and home renovation, soil and gardening, and some consumer products. Lead can also enter the water supply from lead solder in plumbing, lead services lines, and lead pipes in a residential home. Traditional and herbal medicines have also been found to contain lead.
Lead does not break down over time, and is regularly found in urban environments due to its earlier uses. For example, when chipped, peeled or sanded, paint manufactured before 1980 can still release particles of lead into the air, household dust, and soil.
Additional information
Links to sites external to the Toronto Public Health Web site are provided as a convenience and their inclusion does not imply that Toronto Public Health endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content or use of these sites.
Learn more about the sources of lead:
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