Can I prove that lead poisoning occurred 60 years ago?

One afternoon I stumbled across a piece of information that set me on a path of inquiry into my family's past. The information I came across was that the rosin-core solder I had in my workshop contained lead, a metal that is highly toxic especially to young children. Knowing that from before 1940 to sometime in the 1950s my father did large amounts of soldering in his job, as well as doing some soldering at home, I began to connect what up to that time seemed like completely unconnected pieces of family history. The upshot is that I now have every reason to believe that several members of my family were poisoned by lead supplied by my father's employer. As I have extensive training in the medical sciences I have more than the average amount of clinical knowledge. Now, however, I have hit a dead end. I obviously want to prove that this atrocity occurred but since it happened 60 or more years ago the trail has gone cold. Is it too late to prove that poisoning ocurred?

Proving exposure may or may not be worth the effort. After 60 years, you are unlikely to be able to bring any kind of legal action against the employer or employees. Typically, the statute of limitations is 2-years after the fact. Since your Father and other family members may have been poisoned 60 years ago, you may have no legal recourse.

However, since lead is a heavy metal and does not decay with time, and it is stored in fatty tissue and the bones, you could exhume the body and run a lead analysis on tissues, If lead was the cause of health problems, including death, it is likely it would still be there.

If you have medical records indicating your families symptoms, you can compare them against the list below form the HUD Lead Paint Guidelines. Problem is, all of us have some of the symptoms some times


F Abdominal discomfort.
F Anemia.
F Colic.
F Constipation.
F Excessive tiredness.
F Fine tremors.
F Headache.
F High blood pressure.
F Irritability or anxiety.
F Loss of appetite.
F Muscle and joint pain.
F Pallor.
F Pigmentation on the gums (鈥渓ead line鈥?.
F Sexual impotence.
Weakness.
F Inability to keep the hand and arm fully
extended (鈥渨rist drop鈥?.

Best of luck, lead still remains a problem today, but with sound work practices, it can worked with safely. Check out Government web sites, including HUD, OSHA and EPA for a phenominal amount of information.

There are many symptoms of Lead poisoning but without autopsy's and Dna samples I think it would be very hard to proove it however I wish you good luck in your endeavor.

Lead toxicity was first recognized as early as 2000 BC. Nikander of Colophon wrote of lead-induced anemia and colic in 250 BC. Gout, prevalent in affluent Rome, is thought to be the result of lead, or leaded, eating and drinking vessels. Lead has also used in makeup.

While it sounds you had a family tragedy, is it really worthwhile to try to prove that this lead poisoning happened? Is your father's former employer still in business? Are any of the people in management for the company still alive?

For medical purposes, you could probably come up with a strong case that family ailments were due to lead poisoning, but for legal purposes, the effort would probably be worth less than the returns, given the fact that there would be so many uncertainties to covercome.