MINI REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1578949
Principles of environmental medicine: an educational case study of lead poisoning in Beethoven
Provisionally accepted
- University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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Background: Understanding the nature and consequences of widespread lead poisoning is critical to protecting people from harm.Educational case study: We review the historical example of hypothesized lead poisoning in the famous composer Beethoven as an educational vector to illustrate principles of environmental medicine. We discuss what would happen if a hypothetical present-day Mr. B with comparable health complaints, clinical symptoms, or test results were to visit a doctor today. Human biomonitoringwith population reference values and health-based guidance values -is discussed as an important diagnostic tool.This practical outlook on lead poisoning for readers with non-environmental medicine backgrounds contributes to an understanding of principles of environmental medicine.
Keywords: Lead Poisoning, environment, human biomonitoring, prevention, Education
Received: 18 Feb 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Erren, Glenewinkel, Pinger and Lewis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Philip Lewis, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.