Silver Surfer’s Surf Board? - Jeremiah Taiwo

Picture reference: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Lead-2.jpg

                Have you ever considered whether the Silver Surfer’s surf-board from Fantastic Four was actually made from Lead and not silver? Lead (Latin name plumbum), just like copper and magnesium is a metal found naturally in different states. Lead’s appearance is like silver but is not as valuable. Lead occurs naturally and is distributed around the world. It is mined in high quantities in Australia, Canada, Russia and the United States of America. Lead is a very strong metal and it has been used in the past as reinforcement for building foundations.

                Long time ago, Lead was used for almost everything: plumbing, tableware, coin by the Romans, coffins, paints, explosives, car batteries in this modern days and maybe Silverman’s surf-board but not in pencils (pencil lead is from clay). It is still used in some of those things that do not have much human contact or ingestion. There was a myth that the vast use of Lead by the Roman empire contributed their downfall. This is because of Lead that has very negative health effects like the gradual destruction of growth hormones than limits people’s growth and also causes infertility and birth defects. The toxic nature of Lead makes it dangerous and banned from items that might come in contact with the body because it could also be absorbed through the skin. One of the concern about this is that some makeup still contain paints and it is applied directly on the skin. Even if it is in minimal quantity, any Lead absorbed into the body stays on for the entire life of the individual, which means a vast majority cannot be excreted.

                This is not a scare tactics but a means of raising awareness for younger people to understand what is going on around us and start planning for the future. That doesn’t mean you should be paranoia and very cautious about what you use on your body or eat, but just be aware of it and understand whether a continuous use of the item could cause further damage.