Lead poisoning of horses in the vicinity of a battery recycling plant

Abstract

The diagnosis of lead poisoning in horses living on farmland in the vicinity of a battery recycling plant was based on clinical signs as well as on laboratory findings. Chemical analysis of six surface soils (0–15 cm) and herbage samples taken at different distances to the recycling plant showed very high total lead levels in the closest sites to the facility and a clear decrease with distance. Total lead levels in soil samples ranged from 127 to 5657 mg kg −1, with more than 70% of lead extractable by EDTA in the most polluted soils. Lead levels in the aerial part of herbage samples were in the range of 113–4741 mg kg −1. A water washing pre-treatment of the vegetal samples considerably diminished the concentration of lead, suggesting that airborne lead particles from the facility emissions were fixed on the shoots. The analysis of samples taken from six dead horses showed lead concentrations, expressed as mg kg −1 (d.w.), as follows: blood: 0.20–0.89; liver: 2.5–15; kidney: 1.70–6.75. Lead intake levels, estimated according to the ingestion rate of Grammineae forage, illustrates that the apported lead through the ingestion of vegetation growing in the closest sites to the recycling plant was approximately 99.5 mg Pb/kg body weight/day surpassing the fatal dosage for horses of 2.4 mg Pb/kg body weight/day reported by Hammond and Aronson, Ann NY Acad Sci, 1964; 111: 595–611.