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Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

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Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#141

Post by dm03514 »

hammock wrote: post #94
tzs wrote: post #24

I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…

What is the vector for lead exposure from paint? Do we think they are all eating it, or that their parents/landlords are constantly sanding it for some reason and not simply painting over it? edit: Why am I being downvoted?

I'm wondering this too, i couldn't find very much information on the actual risk vectors and required exposure levels and concentrations to trigger an increase in lead blood levels, I'm still looking

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29487787

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#142

Post by foobarian »

tzs wrote: post #102
hammock wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the vector for lead exposure from paint? Do we think they are all eating it, or that their parents/landlords are constantly sanding it for some reason and not simply painting over it? edit: Why am I being downvoted?

"Most lead poisoning in children results from eating chips of deteriorating lead-based paint" [1]. [1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisonin...

Right. It doesn't pass the sniff-test that a whole 1/3 of world's children would be getting poisoned through ingesting paint chips. I'm as curious as the GP about what the actual vector is, but it seems that per the article there really is not enough data to say definitively.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#143

Post by CommanderData »

jjcon wrote: post #87
cathedral2 wrote: post #35

There's a new drug emerging from Berkeley and a company spawned from there called HOPO [1]. The drug is a chelator that has a special affinity for heavy metals in the lanthanide group, which happen to be some of the more toxic metals. This includes gadolinium, which is found in MRI contrast agents, and has been known to cause many-year retention in the bones and skull [2] from just a single dose. "The chelating agent…

Gadolinium seems like one of those things that won't even be allowed in most circumstances in a few more years. It has been used for decades and conventional wisdom was, if your kidneys are fine it all leaves the body in 24 hours. Then just a few years ago we learn this is false and that deposits can be found years later in the brain. The effect may be highly lagged or small, but have to believe it isn't healthy.

I thought the issue with Gadolinium is with repeated doses. The occasional one of dose is not retained to any significant amount in bones and the brain.

This is quite surprising seeing how widespread it is, searches suggest its used in millions in the US alone from any age.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#144

Post by throwaway0a5e »

C_Don7 wrote: post #44
citrin_ru wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is indoor lead paint is still being sold anywhere in the world? Not banned doesn’t necessarily mean it is actively used.

true! But yes, it is. This map shows a summary of tests of paints on the market: https://ipen.org/projects/eliminating-lead-paint/lead-levels... (These are studies of oil-based paints, rather than water-based paints which don't usually contain lead, but in LEEP's experience from Malawi and Liberia lots of homes are painted with oil-based paints, inside and out)

I suspect that even though you can get leaded paint in those places few are actually using it for residential stuff. Lead offered cheap durability for paints in fairly demanding applications. Stuff like a business sign that needs to look crisp after many years in the weather and UV or machinery that's constantly getting scratches up by whatever that machinery works with are the use cases where lead is still somewhat missed because the equivalent performing unleaded coatings are fairly expensive. Since those are poor countries it stands to reason that most of their residential oil paint use would be cheap unleaded stuff and their leaded paint use would be confined to applications that demand better paint than the low end unleaded oil based stuff but where they can't afford high-performing unleaded stuff.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#145

Post by drra »

jakub_g wrote: post #3

I knew about lead poisoning for a while, but mostly in US context. It's almost a non-topic in Europe since leaded gasoline was banned (I'm actually wondering why: no leaded paints in EU?) If these numbers are true, why this is not on first pages of all media all the time? Crazy. I wonder how reliable are these numbers.

I did a lot of metal detecting in Central Europe and amount of lead found on farmlands was shocking. Some places I could gather over a kilo from a single are. Not sure how much this kind of debris contributes to lead poisoning but I don't think it's easily cleanable.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#146

Post by 0des »

zupa-hu wrote: post #88
Unklejoe wrote: post #73

Every time I hear "lead poisoning" mentioned, I have flashbacks to myself as a child playing with my Dad's lead fishing weights like an idiot.

And of course one could bite them onto the string. I did it quite a few times.

I still do this. Is that a problem? Tungsten weights break easily and cost much more while having less SKU available

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#147

Post by stickfigure »

adrianN wrote: post #12
wongarsu wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is based on a UNICEF report [1], which from a cursory glance seems to suggest that while the problem is present to some degree everywhere, it's by far the most pronounced in East and South Asia (but caused health care costs in relation to GDP is worst in Africa) "One of the most concerning sources of lead exposure is the unsound recycling of used lead-acid batteries (ULABs), most of which are found in car…

Youtube has many extremly scary videos showing battery recycling operations, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEvPjOKkPyE

Possibly the best youtube comment ever made:

"I only buy organic locally hand-made batteries."

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#148

Post by zupa-hu »

0des wrote: post #146
zupa-hu wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And of course one could bite them onto the string. I did it quite a few times.

I still do this. Is that a problem? Tungsten weights break easily and cost much more while having less SKU available

That's a strange question given the thread. You are either an AI that doesn't get the context or you have already chewed too much on them.

In case it's not the first: having lead in your mouth contributes to lead poisoning.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#149

Post by Scramblejams »

tzs wrote: post #24

I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…

That lead to (no pun intended)

Apologies for an OT nitpick: the past tense of "lead" is "led."

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#150

Post by C_Don7 »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #144
C_Don7 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

true! But yes, it is. This map shows a summary of tests of paints on the market: https://ipen.org/projects/eliminating-lead-paint/lead-levels... (These are studies of oil-based paints, rather than water-based paints which don't usually contain lead, but in LEEP's experience from Malawi and Liberia lots of homes are painted with oil-based paints, inside and out)

I suspect that even though you can get leaded paint in those places few are actually using it for residential stuff. Lead offered cheap durability for paints in fairly demanding applications. Stuff like a business sign that needs to look crisp after many years in the weather and UV or machinery that's constantly getting scratches up by whatever that machinery works with are the use cases where lead is still somewhat…

We've done surveys and tested household use paints in five LMICs (https://leadelimination.org/projects/)(https://leadeliminati.... 1) lead paints are often cheaper than unleaded paints (in LMICs) because lead paints tend to be locally manufactured and unleaded paints often imported. Also, lead pigments are often cheaper than lead-free pigments. 2) Yes, lead is good at making durable oil-based paints - in some countries with sub-tropical climates durable oil-based paint is popular on the inside and outside of homes, presumably for this reason. It's also easy to clean 3) Water-based paints are much less likely to contain lead and these are also used in homes in LMICs
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