Heavy lead found in some French red wine.

Wine drinkers know that the sulfites used as preservatives in wine can cause headaches in some people--even death in some asthmatics (SN: 6/27/87, p.409). But new research shows that an even greater danger may exist in some French red wines: heavy-lead pollution.

Researchers report in the July 7 NATURE that atmospheric pollution caused by the use of leaded gasoline has led to contamination of some Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine. Richard Lobinski at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and colleagues in France examined 19 vintages from the region and discovered organolead concentrations 10 to 100 times higher than those found in drinking water. This particular wine was made from grapes that grew in vineyards bordering French autoroutes A7 and A9.

This isn't the first time lead has leached its way into wine. Lead crystal (SN: 1/26/91, p.54) and lead-foil bottle wrappers (SN: 9/21/91, p.189) have already been named toxic culprits. But Lobinski sees the contamination found in the new study as far more serious because of its organic nature. Organolead differs in composition and toxicity from what Lobinski calls "normal lead, [Pb.sup.2+]." Organolead compounds, he says, are more volatile and soluble in fats and lipids--and consequently more dangerous.

"Organolead can be easily absorbed, especially by [the] brain," Lobinski adds. In addition, organolead is not easily eliminated from the body and can accumulate in the liver and kidneys.

These heavy-lead compounds are absorbed by wine (and not by water) because they bind to the ethanol produced naturally during the fermentation process. The risk of long-term pollution is "not so bad," according to Lobinski, "because there's a certain lifetime for organolead in the environment. Normally, these compounds disappear in sunlight."

Commenting on this new research, Andrew L. Waterhouse, a chemist at the University of California, Davis, noted that "government regulators should consider making a distrinction between inorganic lead and organolead compounds."

Lobinski believes that "wine can be used as archives of past environmental pollution." The concentrations of organolead in the wines studied reflect the use of leaded gasoline in western Europe. For instance, the availability of leaded gas dropped off in France in the late 1970s, and vintages since then have shown a sharp decrease in contamination. "The only recommendation I'd like to make is don't drink the vintages between '75 and '80," Lobinski says.

The age of the ills of leaded gasoline has passed quietly away in the United States (thanks to the Clean Air Act of 1972), and Lobinski says there isn't much to fear from California wines. But he isn't as optimistic about other climes. "Twenty-five percent of the market is still leaded gasoline in Europe. In Central Europe, 80 percent of gasoline is leaded. In the Soviet Union, 100 percent of gasoline is leaded. We haven't analyzed Crimea wines because they were not available here, but I think they can be really dangerous."