Lead contaminated moonshine: a report of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms analyzed samples.

Abstract

The CDC's Healthy People 2010 has set a US population lead level goal of < 25 microg/dL. A recent study of Emergency Department patients in Atlanta, GA, revealed a significant association between reported moonshine consumption and elevated blood lead. However, beyond anecdotal reports and isolated case histories, laboratory analyses confirming the presence and extent of lead contamination among moonshine samples are absent from modern scientific literature. One hundred and fifteen suspected moonshine samples seized by local law enforcement between 1995 and 2001 were voluntarily submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' National Laboratory for lead analysis using flameless atomic absorption spectrophometry. Samples originated from 9 states: 5 southeastern states, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia. Lead levels ranged between 0.0 microg/dL and 53,200 microg/dL (median 44.0 microg/dL). Median percent alcohol by volume was 44.75% (range 3.85-65.80%). Thirty-three samples (28.7%) contained lead levels > 300 microg/dL, the limit designated potentially hazardous by the FDA. Percent alcohol by volume did not predict lead content. Consuming 1 L/d of moonshine contaminated with 400 microg/dL of lead would result in a blood lead level of approximately 25 microg/dL. At a high level of consumption, 25% of the samples could produce blood lead levels > or = 25 microg/dL. Moonshine production and consumption is an under-appreciated toxicologic and public health concern and is not restricted to the southeastern US.