THE GENETIC-EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEAD

This article reviews the effects of lead on genetic systems in the con text of lead's various other toxic effects and its abundance and distr ibution in the environment. Lead is perhaps the longest used and best recognized toxic environmental chemical, yet it continued be used reck lessly until only very recently. Lead is thus a lesson in the limitati ons and strengths of science, human conscience and common sense. Lead has been tested and found to be capable of eliciting a positive respon se in an extraordinarily wide range of biological and biochemical test s; among them tests for enzyme inhibition, fidelity of DNA synthesis, mutation, chromosome aberrations, cancer and birth defects. It reacts or complexes with many biomolecules and adversely affects the reproduc tive, nervous, gastrointestinal, immune, renal, cardiovascular, skelet al, muscular and hematopoietic systems as well as developmental proces ses. It is Likely that lead is a selective agent that continues to act on and influence the genetic structure and future evolution of expose d plant and animal populations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.