If you're eating an organic diet and trying to avoid pesticides and other nasty chemicals in your home, it's unnerving to learn that hidden contaminants, such as lead, could still threaten you with long-term health problems.
A recent study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives suggests that lead, found in a disturbingly high number of foods and consumer products, could be linked to hearing loss. The researchers analyzed the blood lead levels of nearly 3,700 adults between the ages of 20 and 69 and found that hearing loss increased in step with blood lead levels, regardless of where people worked or any recreational exposures to loud noises.
Lead is a toxic metal with a long legacy of use in pesticides, paints, and gasoline. And although the federal government has banned or severely restricted its use in those applications, the metal is still used with abandon in cheap consumer goods. Yet, owing to its role in Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney failure, as well as certain forms of cancer, every major medical and public health organization in the world has admitted that there is no safe level of exposure to lead.
So the best way to protect yourself against the heavy metal's toxic effects is to know where it's most likely to crop up in your home. Old lead paint and contaminated soil remain your two largest sources of exposure, but here are six other unexpected places where you might unknowingly be exposed to lead, along with some ways to avoid it.
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