Summary of the Lead Poisoning Debate Among Franklin Expedition Specialists [1987-2014] (2014)

The analysis by Owen Beattie and John Geiger of the tissue samples taken from the human remains of Franklin crew member John Torrington interred on Beechey Island indicated that Torrington suffered from severe lung disease, including emphysema, pleural adhesions, indicative of probable tuberculosis, and anthracosis, or the deposit of coal dust in the lungs. Torrington was a stoker and the anthracosis can be explained by his continual expose to coal dust. The tissue analysis also showed elevated lead levels in his bones. Based in part on the discovery of elevated lead levels in the tissues of these deceased men, Beattie advanced the interpretation that Franklin's party generally was exposed to toxic levels of lead. He suggested that, combined with more general respiratory illness, lead poisoning contributed significantly to deteriorating health throughout the party. Subsequently, the historian William Battersby suggested that the elevated lead levels derived not from diet but from the unique water system developed for the ships. Recently, Keith Millar, Adrian W. Bowman and William Battersby have more generally questioned the lead hypothesis by arguing that elevated lead levels were not unusual in the British population of the mid-19th century. While lead was a probable factor in the deteriorating health of some of Franklin's men, these authors suggested that it was probably only one among several contributing factors in the disaster, including also "dietary insufficiencies." Further, the historian Andrew Lambert has inferred that the documented presence of tuberculosis infection in Torrington’s tissues raises the possibility of the more general presence of tuberculosis disease among Franklin’s party, for which no effective treatment had yet been discovered. Exposure to the cold following the abandonment of the ships in late April 1848, coupled with inadequate housing and clothing could be added to these assorted potential factors bearing upon the health and survival of the party.