Lead is a heavy, soft, relatively inexpensive metal ($116 a ton in 1940) which in ancient times was a byproduct of silver mining. It found uses in plumbing and other applications where its easy workability and resistance to corrosion are valuable. Lead was also put to use in low-melting alloys, as a gasoline additive, in storage batteries, and in many other applications, so that primary lead production became the most important source of the metal. Compounds of lead are quite toxic, and because the body has difficulty ridding itself of lead, it is a cumulative poison. Today safer alternatives have been found for most traditional uses of lead.
Lead was not a limiting resource for the Allies. The United States produced considerable lead from mines in Missouri, and there were also large deposits in Australia. Japan produced less than 10% of its requirements of lead in the home islands, so that this metal was among the depressingly long list of essential industrial materials that had to be imported. The seizure of Burma, an important lead producer, eased the situation only to the extent that shipping was available to get the lead back to Japan.
References
U.S. Geological Survey (accessed 29 December 2006)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index