Lead Is Unhealthy

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Pages: 1

Lead is toxic primarily because it preferentially replaces other metals (e.g., zinc, calcium and iron) in reactions; this produces various adverse effects on the hematopoietic, renal, and reproductive and central nervous system, mainly through increased oxidative stress. Lead interferes and sometimes alter the proteins that cause some types of genes to switch on and off by displacing other metals in the molecules. This changes the shape of the protein molecule and as a result they can no longer perform their function. Some proteins which are affected are known to regulate blood pressure, hence this can cause development delays in children and high blood pressure in adults), heme production (which can lead to anemia), and sperm production (possibly