EDTA can save your life from Lead Poisoning - Faezeh Takehei

Good morning to the folks of William Aberhart high school,

I am back to teach you more about chemistry and chemical compounds.

Have you wondered which chemical keeps the flavor of your favorite carbonated drinks or saves your life after lead poisoning?

The answer is EDTA… The scientific name of this chemical is edetic acid/ Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid¹.  Ferdinand Munz discovered EDTA in 1935. EDTA is a type of salt. It binds to important metals like calcium and copper and prevents them from degrading and discoloring foods³.

Interesting physical/ chemical properties ¹

• Melting point: 245 C 
•   Molar mass: 292.24 g/mol
• Soluble in water
• White solid powder

EDTA has been used in verities of applications⁴:

• Baby foods
• Paper
• Textile industry
• Beauty products
• Cleaning materials
• Medicine- chelation therapy to cure the patients with lead poisoning

How awesome!!!!

That is not the end of it

Because

 Chemicals can have toxicity and negative health effects on organisms and humans. Consequently, EDTA is considered to be among those chemicals.

 

 

The injection of the EDTA by veins to cure the lead poisoning can have side effects ²:

• Burning sensation in body
• Diarrhea, seizures, headache, low blood pressure
• It can decrease the levels of the important vitamins like vitamin C (found in fruits), calcium (found in milk, and dairy products)

Controversies associated with EDTA ⁵:

• Removes minerals and trace elements from the body
• Has negative impacts on calcium metabolism
• Cause body crams and cessation of breath
• It takes long time for EDTA to be decomposed when it is released to the environment . Therefore, thanks to our awesome scientists, who found other alternatives to EDTA ⁶:

Polyaspartic acid is one of the alternatives.

• It is a biodegradable
• Water soluble
• It is a polyaminoacid
• In addition to its ability to chelate metal ions, it can inhibit from corrosion.

 References:

1.      National Library of Medicine. (2013). Edetic acid. ChemIDplus Lite. Retrieved from

http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/jsp/common/ChemFull.jsp?calledFrom=lite

2.      University of Maryland Medical Center. (2013, May 7). Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Retrieved from http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/ethylenediaminetetraacetic-acid

3.      Harris, Daniel.C. (2010). EDTA Titration. Quantative Analytical Chemistry (8^th ed). (265-276). New york, United States of America: Macmillan

4.      Zeng, A., & Jandir, P.,&Davis, . EDTA. UC Davis Chem Wiki. Retrieved from http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Coordination_Chemistry/Ligands/EDTA

5.      Golstein,M., & Goldstein,M.A. (2001). Chelation Therapy. Controversies in the Practice of Medicine. (pp. 205-206). New york, United states of America: Greenwood press

Kolodynska,D. (2011). Chelating agents of a new generation as an alternative to the conventional chelators for heavy metal ions from different waste waters. Expanding issues in desalination. Retrieved from http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/20357.pdf