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Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

reuters.com

51–59 of 59 posts

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#51
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK we had lead in petrol until the year 2000 and most motorsports was sponsored by big tobacco in those days. So worrying about a little bit of lead in paint left over from 1986 kind of shows how far we have come. We did actually have lead free petrol before then in the UK and the government even made it significantly cheaper. But nobody wanted it, they chose to pay extra to put toxic lead in their cars. Damag…

Private plane owners in the USA still burn leaded fuel! It's the source of 50% of children's lead exposure.

Gonna need to see a source on that 50%

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#52
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto for the asbestos --- if it's not in a state where fibers of it can easily flake off and float around to be inhaled (technical term is "friable"), it won't do any harm.

Where is the source for this claim? I've always had a conspiracy theory that this is not true and that the "do not disturb and you'll be fine" theory was put forth to save all the home owners who would otherwise be told their homes are worthless or extremely expensive to properly fix. Even if the suggested reasoning is true, who is there to gurantee that a pervious owner did not improperly disturb the asbestos. My re…

>My real estate agent toward me

Don't ever trust anything a real estate agent tells you, especially if that agent stands to gain financially from your actions; they are the "used car salesmen" for houses. They lie.

>only one case did another ever admit to knowing of a problem where signing off on the proper lead paint/radon/asbestos warnings.

A problem? Like the existence of them? You should test for radon before buying a house, so you'll know. I have friends who turned down a house with high levels of radon because the seller wasn't willing to negotiate for radon remediation. Lead paint isn't a concern as long as it is undisturbed, however, you need to treat every house built before 1980 as having lead paint. Asbestos? I have asbestos in my house, which was disclosed to me, but it was professionally wrapped, so safe as long as it remains so. Pretty much every house that's as old as mine contains asbestos, at least in my neighborhood. So it doesn't effect the value of it at all, as long as it's wrapped.

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#53
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto for the asbestos --- if it's not in a state where fibers of it can easily flake off and float around to be inhaled (technical term is "friable"), it won't do any harm.

And, in fact, any work to remove it can kick up dust and increase health hazards.

True, and it can easily be exposed and made airborne by by accident. For example, many HVAC professionals are unaware or unconcerned about the asbestos fiberboard panels that were often packaged around register boxes until the 70's. These boards are fragile and will readily shed fibers into the air.

Same goes for old ceiling panels, often loaded with friable asbestos. An act as simple as drilling a hole, or installing new can lights can load up the room with airborne fibers if done carelessly.

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Old houses have lead So I’ll accept that lead pipes are not great but how bad is lead paint really? Specifically, if you have lead paint underneath several layers of more modern titanium paint, what is the lead poisoning risk? I thought the more significant risk with lead paint was from paint flaking into dust, especially for painted iron which comes off as the iron rusts.

Lead paint that has been covered in layers of latex paint is safe. Most of the hazard of lead paint comes from kids eating paint chips in poorly maintained buildings or contractors sanding it off and contaminating the building.

Also, lead paint tastes sweet, so leaded paint chips are extremely appealing for small children to eat.

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#55
Former Army Vet here.

I've lived in buildings that were condemned a year before I was living in them. I was then moved out of it because they were reclassified as condemned. Less than a year later I was moved back into it because we ran short of living space. All of this while there were huge patches of black mold on walls, in vents, and on the bed mattress themselves.

The guidance we received was to bleach everything. I'm not sure if this was done because of ignorance or more nefarious reasons. We ultimately took note of the worse rooms and avoided using them when possible.

It almost always takes the local news agency breaking a story about these condemned barracks before anything is actually done. Usually they just condemn the building again and the cycle repeats.

This was located in GA where humidity is a problem and almost entirely impossible to combat.

If I was hard pressed, I do have pictures of rooms I've lived in with patches of mold on the walls.

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#56
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And, in fact, any work to remove it can kick up dust and increase health hazards.

Which raises the following question: is it better to leave the potential source of problem around as long as it's not triggered, or is it better to temporarily activate it in order to remove it for good?

I have a suspicion that these people that "flip" houses diy style tend to disturb it without proper care. As a 17 year old I worked manual construction jobs (via craigslist) and even then knew enough to see proper precautions were not being taken. Oh well, they aren't the ones living in the house so I guess it all works out :-/

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#57
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And, in fact, any work to remove it can kick up dust and increase health hazards.

Which raises the following question: is it better to leave the potential source of problem around as long as it's not triggered, or is it better to temporarily activate it in order to remove it for good?

The key of the successful asbestos removal is to not make it airborne during the removal.

Re: Children poisoned by lead on U.S. Army bases

#59
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private plane owners in the USA still burn leaded fuel! It's the source of 50% of children's lead exposure.

Gonna need to see a source on that 50%

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3230438/
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