Get the lead out

tom66

Joined May 9, 2009
2,595
Not 110 volts though... I doubt you could put your hands in any liquid at 110 volts potential without getting a shock...

Oh, wait, you meant for some other interpretation of this.
 

sceadwian

Joined Jun 1, 2009
499
Tom, it's DC and current limited to 75ma. That's possibly a lethal current if directly applied across the heart, but this is applied from feet to arms, there's a good chance that it'll just cause heart stress, the majority of the current will be bypassed through the rest of the circulatory system and tissue.

I've never heard of this before but it seems particularly genius to me, the main effect would be the soluble lead in the blood would actually plate out into clumps of particulate metalic lead which the bodies immune system would then be able to deal with, it's the soluble lead which is dangerous not the solid metal.

It can be best understood by looking at the surface area involved. Lead dissolved into a solution has a nearly infinite surface area to react with as it's small molecular units involved the surface area of reactant is HUGE.

The prescribed treatment would apply a DC current and voltage throughout the entire body, ANY soluble metals would tend to flow clump and plate out to the cathode source. The hands I'm guessing would be the cathode, the metal bits would then be very close to the surface and the immune system would tend to try to get it out at that point, or immobilize it in the skin itself.
 

tom66

Joined May 9, 2009
2,595
I got a B in Chemistry; Physics/Electronics is my strong point, so I don't really know, I was just theorising. What was the political statement "plumbum-butt politicians" about :confused:
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
I had not heard of the method either. Could it be that these subjects sweated some of the lead out? Or, maybe just pee'd in their pants? Most likely, the treatment was snake oil, but it would be nice to have been able to use modern diagnostic techniques to study whether any of the lead was removed.

Sweating can be facilitated by electric current (ionophoresis or iontophoresis) and that method is used in legitimate studies of various electrolytes. For example, it can be used in diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. So, I did a quick search of the NLM and turned up a group of authors active in the study iontophoresis (or ionophoresis) of lead.

Here are several citations to that group:

1)THE USE OF SWEAT TO MONITOR LEAD ABSORPTION THROUGH THE SKIN

LILLEY SG, FLORENCE TM, STAUBER JL
SCI TOTAL ENVIRON; 76 (2-3). 1988. 267-278..

2)Skin Absorption of Lead

Florence TM, Lilley SG, Stauber JL
Lancet, Vol. 2, No. 8603, pages 157-158, 5 references, 19881988.

3) The Use of Sweat to Monitor Lead Absorption through the Skin

Lilley SG, Florence TM, Stauber JL
Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 76, Nos. 2/3, pages 267-278, 19 references, 19881988.

And here is one of their abstracts with bolding added:
It is usually assumed that lead can be absorbed through the skin only if it is present as an organolead compound such as tetraethyllead or lead naphthanate. It has been found, however, that finely-powdered lead metal or lead nitrate solution placed on the skin results in rapid absorption of lead, and transport of the metal around the body. The absorbed lead appears in sweat and saliva, but not in blood or urine. The application of 6 mg of lead as 0.5 M lead nitrate to the left arm resulted in an increase in lead concentration in pilocarpine-induced iontophoresis sweat samples taken from the right arm, from an initial value of 15–25 μg Pbl−1 to 300 μg Pbl−1 after 2 days. Saliva lead increased from 2.5 to 15 μg Pbl−1 in the same period. The rate of lead absorption through the skin increases with increased sweating of the skin. Since no measurable increase in blood lead has been found, the lead must be transported in the plasma and rapidly concentrated into the extracellular fluid pool (sweat and saliva), without significant uptake by the erythrocytes, and with a very low transient concentration in the plasma. Workers occupationally exposed to lead have extremely high levels of lead in sweat even though their lead in blood is only moderately elevated. Lead absorbed through the skin may be eliminated via sweat and other extracellular fluids, and hence not be as great a health hazard as ingested lead, but this will need to be proved by further studies.
I was surprised by the fact that despite their first paper on the subject being more than 20 years ago, no other group seems to have picked up on their studies.

John
 
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sceadwian

Joined Jun 1, 2009
499
75ma through the human body.... It probably killed a few people.. This is an electrolytic plating process taking place in the human body.... Lead poisoning to the degree where this kind of treatment is needed is near the fatality point. There's not need to developement a treatment for severe lead poisoning if it can be avoided in the first place, which is pretty easy.
 
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