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Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

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Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#201

Post by mythrwy »

jeffbee wrote: post #57
dj_gitmo wrote: post #36

My kid took a routine test and was found to have 5.0 μg/dL, which is elevated but not alarming. The source is most likely paint chips or dust. I'm in an old building which has lead paint that was painted over. It's totally legal to just paint over the lead paint, but since the building is settling the paint on the door frames often chips off. My landlord has been good about offering to strip in repaint the frames, bu…

5 μg/dL is very alarming. It is associated with an order of magnitude higher criminal behavior in later life, much higher odds of repeating a grade in school, and significantly worse 3rd and 5th grade reading and math performance. Children with this blood lead level have worse later-life outcomes than children who test with 10 μg/dL and get treatment for it. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20160056

Lead does have horrible effects but I have to wonder if poverty might be a confounding variable.

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#202

Post by jeffbee »

caeril wrote: post #190
nate_meurer wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, a lot of PVC wire insulation contains no lead. For example, all wire meant to be sold in the EU must be ROHS complaint, and thus contain no lead. Many US manufacturers are also compliant, and the number is growing. Many manufacturers state this explicitly on their websites (e.g. Tripp Lite and Southwire, to take two random examples). Many others can be identified by either an RoHS designation or lack of CA Prop 6…

> all wire meant to be sold in the EU must be ROHS complaint Just an aside, this is a personal gripe. I grew up on lead solder, making Heathkit projects with my dad. I tried re-engaging with the electronics hobby as an adult, decades later, in a world filled with ROHS solder, and I have to say it is a huge pain in the ass to work with. Adhesion, balling issues, etc, regardless of core type, flux, etc, even on nice co…

Nothing about RoHS is preventing you from poisoning yourself and your family in the privacy of your home. Leaded solder is still widely available.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kester-solder/24-...

Here's half a kilo of lead in a solid metal bar, if you want to just poison a whole city or small country:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kester-solder/44-...

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#203

Post by sayhar »

nate_meurer wrote: post #154

A lady named Tamara Rubin has spent years testing household products and other commonly handled objects for lead. She uses an XRF tester, which is the gold standard for high accuracy lead testing. She has thousands of items listed, from dishes to door hardware to childrens toys, and a lot of these will put a family at high risk of lead poisoning. There's some woo-y stuff on her website, but her XRF data is a gold min…

So I went into a big rabbithole of writing up a long email to my family warning them about specific plates and so on. Then I paused -- was any of this real?

I looked up on Snopes -- they didn't seem to be too convinced that she's legit[0]. Some more googling didn't seem to show any reputable site repeating her claims.

It's hard to tell if any of this is true or not. (Especially since there's a difference between a _cracked_ or chipped plate vs a normal one)

[0] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vintage-pyrex-contains-uns...

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#204

Post by jeffbee »

mythrwy wrote: post #201
jeffbee wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 μg/dL is very alarming. It is associated with an order of magnitude higher criminal behavior in later life, much higher odds of repeating a grade in school, and significantly worse 3rd and 5th grade reading and math performance. Children with this blood lead level have worse later-life outcomes than children who test with 10 μg/dL and get treatment for it. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20160056

Lead does have horrible effects but I have to wonder if poverty might be a confounding variable.

I have to wonder if not reading the PDF was a confounding variable in your reply.

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#205

Post by coryrc »

lutorm wrote: post #161
Symbiote wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe pilots should be required to lick a block of lead before each flight, so they have some incentive to stop using leaded fuel.

With almost no exceptions, pilots have exactly zero say in what fuel to use. Airplanes are certified to use certain fuels and that's what you have to use. At this point there is no generally approved unleaded replacement for 100-octane avgas (although several are in testing.) A few engines, mostly low performance ones, have the option to use automobile gas, but even in those cases it's rarely available at airports so…

They own the plane. They choose the engine. They choose to fly. They choose to lobby against engine upgrades.

They choose to poison us.

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#206

Post by annoyingnoob »

nate_meurer wrote: post #154

A lady named Tamara Rubin has spent years testing household products and other commonly handled objects for lead. She uses an XRF tester, which is the gold standard for high accuracy lead testing. She has thousands of items listed, from dishes to door hardware to childrens toys, and a lot of these will put a family at high risk of lead poisoning. There's some woo-y stuff on her website, but her XRF data is a gold min…

Its in so many older city water pipes that you cannot see, only to be let out when the water chemistry changes a bit.

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#207

Post by xyst »

graeme wrote: post #144

How big a concern is lead in adults, and is there anything that can be done about long run exposure to lower levels? I live in Montreal, and found out the city pipes in my area had lead. So I've been drinking it about ten years; have bottled water now. My understanding is that chelation is good for acute exposure but wasn't sure it's recommended for lower levels. Now do I know if this is actually something to be conc…

Bottled water often comes from the same sources as your tap, so the "no ongoing exposure" is not always guaranteed. Additionally, bottled water companies (at least in the states) is not regulated by the same laws as municipal/city water companies.

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#208

Post by fighterpilot »

reducesuffering wrote: post #184
nate_meurer wrote: post #154

A lady named Tamara Rubin has spent years testing household products and other commonly handled objects for lead. She uses an XRF tester, which is the gold standard for high accuracy lead testing. She has thousands of items listed, from dishes to door hardware to childrens toys, and a lot of these will put a family at high risk of lead poisoning. There's some woo-y stuff on her website, but her XRF data is a gold min…

Yes, great callout. Relevant to many of us, is that many ceramic coffee and tea mugs also leech lead, especially if they have the colored glaze. I'm using specifically lead-free glass now.

"lead-free glass"

I assume glass is just lead-free by default and I don't need to go out looking for a special lead-free version of glassware, right?

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#209

Post by ridiculous_fish »

If you are interested in lead exposure as a global problem, I recommend the "There's Lead in your Turmeric" episode of The Weeds podcast. Some of the largest sources of lead are adulterated turmeric, improperly fired pottery, and others that I never would have expected.

Re: Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say

#210

Post by fighterpilot »

graeme wrote: post #142
ch4s3 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can treat it with chelation or EDTA. The drugs bind to lead and your body clears it out via the kidneys. Works well if you catch it early. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisonin...

If you only find out later, is it any use at all? I found out my drinking water had low levels of lead, for about ten years.

How did you find out. What test?
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