Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2013 Mar 22;121(6):744–750. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1206051

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from EHP may be reprinted freely. Use of materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, ?Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives?); pertinent reference information should be provided for the article from which the material was reproduced. Articles from EHP, especially the News section, may contain photographs or illustrations copyrighted by other commercial organizations or individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from the holder of the copyright.

PMC Copyright notice

(A) Backscatter electron (BSE) scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of Nigeria ground ore (upper), eating area sweep (middle), and soil (lower) samples with overlain element maps for lead (in red). In all images, the brighter gray indicates higher mean atomic number. Bar = 250 µm. (B) BSE field emission SEM image of a cluster of plant fibers and mineral particles found in a grain sample (ground by a flour mill in Zamfara) having 3 ppm total lead. Elongated plant fibers are light to dark blue. Bright orange particles are lead carbonates, lead oxides, and lead phosphates. Pale orange/blue particles containing iron, chromium, and nickel are steel particles abraded from flourmill grinding plates. The cluster formed during grinding, with the fiber bundle attracting and trapping the mineral and metal fragments. Bar = 100 µm.