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Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

pnas.org

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Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#31

Post by jacobolus »

emteycz wrote: post #8
verelo wrote: post #6

I recall as a kid, soldering circuit boards. I distinctly remember the label "low lead" and also the smell of the smoke it made. At times, and this is stupid, i would find myself chewing on a piece of the unburnt solder as i debugged a circuit board. Mistakes were made...

When I was a kid, I explicitly didn't use non-leaded solder because I liked the smell of the leaded one. Mistakes indeed

The fumes from non-leaded solder are worse for you (make sure to have good ventilation). The lead doesn’t go into the air; the fumes are from flux. As long as you don’t eat the solder, and wash your hands after soldering, there’s no problem with hobby soldering using lead solder.

The reason to prefer lead-free solder is primarily because at industrial scale with tons of trashed electronics the lead becomes an environmental pollutant. For hobbyists, lead solder is easier to work with, and not a serious risk.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#32

Post by alisonkisk »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
sorry_outta_gas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lead exposure makes people dumb af and mentally ill

Crude, poor delivery but you may be on to something. I am curious if this is why you see generational differences in mental models and belief systems (there is data showing an inverse relationship between religiosity and intelligence [1] [2]), and why younger, healthier cohorts operate with different mental models. Riffing, if younger cohorts are healthier, you’d expect their average/aggregate cognitive ability to be…

No post body was provided.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#33

Post by mindslight »

csee wrote: post #26
mindslight wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don’t let your neighbors DIY exterior painting, scraping, or demolition WTF? Yes, go ahead and advocate responsible techniques. But if you're the type of meddling busybody that harasses others just for working on their own homes, don't be surprised when nobody listens to you.

Negative externalities between neighbors is a thing. See noise pollution.

Yes, but by the time someone is trying to stop their neighbors from working on their own homes using the same mitigation techniques a licensed/insured contractor would, we're well past the point of discussing externalities and solidly into HOA-hellhole territory.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#34

Post by eropple »

mindslight wrote: post #24
jeffbee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paint chips are the main thing. Don’t needlessly demolish anything and if you do, do it right, with containment and wet cleanup. And, ideally, a trained and licensed crew. Don’t let your neighbors DIY exterior painting, scraping, or demolition, or do it with a fly-by-night unlicensed contractor and no permits. Don’t let your kids chew on the window sills. Don’t garden for food without thinking about it first.

> Don’t let your neighbors DIY exterior painting, scraping, or demolition WTF? Yes, go ahead and advocate responsible techniques. But if you're the type of meddling busybody that harasses others just for working on their own homes, don't be surprised when nobody listens to you.

The poster to whom you are replying is completely correct. It's not the same thing as thinking the windows they're putting in are ugly. It's not even like asbestos mitigation, where stupid decisions there only really impact the people who live there. These are health and safety risks to people around you, not just you yourself. It's a community concern.

Your neighbors' decisions around lead management and mitigation directly impact you and you are within your rights to insist that they follow proper safety procedures. To cast that as "meddling" or "harassment" is odious.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#35

Post by erikpukinskis »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
sorry_outta_gas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lead exposure makes people dumb af and mentally ill

Crude, poor delivery but you may be on to something. I am curious if this is why you see generational differences in mental models and belief systems (there is data showing an inverse relationship between religiosity and intelligence [1] [2]), and why younger, healthier cohorts operate with different mental models. Riffing, if younger cohorts are healthier, you’d expect their average/aggregate cognitive ability to be…

I’m sure lead levels have some effect, but how do you control for “they grew up in a completely different world”?

I’d assume the latter is the primary cause of any major behavior differences, absent some pretty breathtaking science showing otherwise.

“Intelligence” is also a pretty goofy measure. If we’re talking about IQ, it’s basically “what quiz questions predict success measures, as defined by the social norms of whoever made the test”.

IMO that’s a pretty sketchy way to define intelligence. Certainly not the way I think about it colloquially. To me, success and intelligence are loosely correlated but very different traits.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#36

Post by ip26 »

mindslight wrote: post #24
jeffbee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paint chips are the main thing. Don’t needlessly demolish anything and if you do, do it right, with containment and wet cleanup. And, ideally, a trained and licensed crew. Don’t let your neighbors DIY exterior painting, scraping, or demolition, or do it with a fly-by-night unlicensed contractor and no permits. Don’t let your kids chew on the window sills. Don’t garden for food without thinking about it first.

> Don’t let your neighbors DIY exterior painting, scraping, or demolition WTF? Yes, go ahead and advocate responsible techniques. But if you're the type of meddling busybody that harasses others just for working on their own homes, don't be surprised when nobody listens to you.

If you live in a development that was built in the days of lead paint, IMO it seems fair to notice if your next door neighbor is carelessly demo'ing or sanding the exterior. Lead dust from their work can blow into your life.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#37

Post by ceejayoz »

paulpauper wrote: post #28

Whether it's increased crime or lowered IQ, lead is likely not as potent as the media hype would suggest. According to a meta study of lead vs. crime the results are inconclusive. Very high exposure to lead my cause a couple point reduction of childhood IQ, which may be temporary and not everyone exposed to lead has a reduced IQ. Regarding lead & IQ and lead & crime ,some links to studies (and the meta study): https:…

This comment would be a lot more useful with a link to the specific study you're referring to, instead of a fairly vague hint of its existence.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#38

Post by hgomersall »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #23
csee wrote: post #13

Practically, what should one do to avoid lead poisoning here and now? Lead petrol is banned. Lead paint is banned. Lead pipes are a problem in some areas, but let's assume we don't live in these areas. What do we need to look out for?

Small plane fuel is still leaded. I know a few air fields in my area that were converted to housing developments and/or parks/retail/offices. I assume the ground is still contaminated in those areas, and any fruits from plants growing on it will be contaminated also. I also assume small planes rain down lead wherever they fly.

I looked into this a short while ago and came to the conclusion that fruit is probably ok. It's root vegetables that are the worst and then leaf and stem, then fruit doesn't seem to pick much up even from fairly highly contaminated soil. I now can't find all the papers though, so YMMV.

Re: Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

#40

Post by klyrs »

jacobolus wrote: post #31
emteycz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a kid, I explicitly didn't use non-leaded solder because I liked the smell of the leaded one. Mistakes indeed

The fumes from non-leaded solder are worse for you (make sure to have good ventilation). The lead doesn’t go into the air; the fumes are from flux. As long as you don’t eat the solder, and wash your hands after soldering, there’s no problem with hobby soldering using lead solder. The reason to prefer lead-free solder is primarily because at industrial scale with tons of trashed electronics the lead becomes an environ…

Pretty safe bet that kids playing with lead solder didn't wash their hands afterwards.
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