Live data from Hacker News

Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

medicalxpress.com

91–100 of 479 posts

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

reminds me of those comic where the adult explains to the kid that every physical attribute was explained by genetics and then stumbles over his words trying to explain cognitive ones as inherently different was just a funny perspective I’m not trying to start a pogrom with this observation

If we neutered everybody who scored under 130 IQ, what do you think society would look like in 3 generations?

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#92
post #6

I'd like to point out that, although it is illegal to put lead in water supply lines in the US, there is a loophole that allows it in hot water lines. As a result, for certain fittings, most big-box hardware stores only sell the leaded variants, and label them "hot water heater supply line" or something similar.

Something interesting to point out is that until about 2014 "lead-free" plumbing could in fact contain amounts of lead. I forget the cut-off level but it was something like 8%.

I'm not all that worried about lead. In most places it's not an issue because of how restricted it's been, we have tests for it in products, tests in people, etc. I'm more concerned about plastics, forever chemicals, etc which are everywhere, aren't routinely tested for, and have known negative impacts (not on the same severity as lead).

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are we going to do? Pass a law? To force the millions of voters paying hardly any property tax who bought their lead-loaded homes in 1983 for $40,000 in Los Angeles and San Francisco, now worth $1.1m, to you know, fix them? Then will we pay for the even greater rise in rents? I hate lead, pollution and my incredibly cheap landlord, but I feel like I have no choice in California.

You obviously didn't live in the SF Bay area in the 80's. Houses were not that cheap even then.

And they're more than $1.1m now.

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#94
post #26

Does anyone know the the risk is for electronics hobbyist?

I typically use lead-free solder unless I'm dealing with some annoyingly massive thermal mass like a joystick anchor, but I use the same rule whenever I'm dealing with solder, fishing weights, and ammo: wash hands before they go near my face after handling lead products. Inorganic lead is not readily absorbed through the skin (that's not to say it cannot be, or never is), so generally speaking as long as you avoid ingesting it (hence wash hands after handling it) there's little to worry about.

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you're dealing with electronics made prior to 2006, almost all of what you'll be soldering with is lead-free. Thank the EU's RoHS directive for that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Subst...

There's a lot of argument that lead-free solder isn't as good (or easy to use) and several hobbyists still use leaded solder.

Have you ever tried the lead free stuff as compared to a good 60/40 or something like that?

It's horrid to use. And the lead-free stuff is far worse in manufactured equipment - how many devices have failed early due to BGA solder joint failures that basically didn't exist before RoHS requirements? I think the nVidia 8600M issues were traced to that, and plenty of other BGA equipment since 2006 or so has failed rather early.

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#96
post #6

I'd like to point out that, although it is illegal to put lead in water supply lines in the US, there is a loophole that allows it in hot water lines. As a result, for certain fittings, most big-box hardware stores only sell the leaded variants, and label them "hot water heater supply line" or something similar.

What are we going to do? Pass a law? To force the millions of voters paying hardly any property tax who bought their lead-loaded homes in 1983 for $40,000 in Los Angeles and San Francisco, now worth $1.1m, to you know, fix them? Then will we pay for the even greater rise in rents? I hate lead, pollution and my incredibly cheap landlord, but I feel like I have no choice in California.

That seems like a non-sequitur. He's saying that new fittings contain lead. Step one is to ban those.

This does leave existing homes with old fittings, but "stopping the bleeding" doesn't require retrofits. The old housing stock will gradually be replaced/updated. Accelerating that trend is the logical next step, but it's a second, separate step.

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#97
post #79
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that is allowed because we don’t drink from the hot water tap.

If the water was already hot because I was doing something else, I'll make soup or pasta with a pot of hot water. If the kitchen were closer to my water heater, I'd do it more consistently.

You're never supposed to cook with hot tap water. Even if lead is not a concern, there are other possible contaminants that can leech from plastic and copper pipes, or from the tank itself.

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm making tea I do. I can't imagine that lead is boiling off...

You should switch to using the cold water tap to fill your kettle! Also, when you see what kind of build up can happen in a hot water heater, you'll definitely want to avoid drinking from the hot water tap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAzKts6Wp1Q&t=207s

[deleted]

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you're dealing with electronics made prior to 2006, almost all of what you'll be soldering with is lead-free. Thank the EU's RoHS directive for that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Subst...

There's a lot of argument that lead-free solder isn't as good (or easy to use) and several hobbyists still use leaded solder.

Lead-free solder can be a bitch to work with for some projects due to the higher melting point, and I do keep a spool of leaded wire around for that reason - but generally speaking for most hobbyist uses it's a non-issue as long as you have a relatively modern iron that can output enough heat (and retain it).

Re: Lead poisoning causes more death, IQ loss than thought: study

#100
post #6

I'd like to point out that, although it is illegal to put lead in water supply lines in the US, there is a loophole that allows it in hot water lines. As a result, for certain fittings, most big-box hardware stores only sell the leaded variants, and label them "hot water heater supply line" or something similar.

What are we going to do? Pass a law? To force the millions of voters paying hardly any property tax who bought their lead-loaded homes in 1983 for $40,000 in Los Angeles and San Francisco, now worth $1.1m, to you know, fix them? Then will we pay for the even greater rise in rents? I hate lead, pollution and my incredibly cheap landlord, but I feel like I have no choice in California.

> What are we going to do? Pass a law?

Yes!

It wouldn't burden existing homeowners because such laws almost always grandfather in existing structures.

When they banned lead paint and asbestos, I don't think anyone immediately repainted their walls or replaced their asbestos drywall. It slowly phases out over a number of decades.

Post reply on HN