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

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

#291
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past it was common knowledge not to. It's of much more uncertainty as house plumbing has changed.

That's because it is primarily a historical artifact[0]. Most modern plumbing heats water on-demand, which pretty much entirely avoids the risk of storage tank contamination or Legionella. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHgUu_8KgA

I wouldn’t consider on-demand heaters to be all that modern. Places that use on-demand water heaters are now at a disadvantage because it is much more challenging to switch away from fossil fuels over to electric. Tanks, especially with a heat pump, can provide all the heating a household needs through a standard 120V15A socket. For on demand electric water heating you’re looking at upgrading main panels to supply an additional 240V20A and even that will struggle to heat the water enough in some winter climates.

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

#292

This feels like a good time to bring up the lead-crime hypothesis (flaws and all). For those who don't know, there's a strong (if faulty) correlation between lead levels in preschool children and crime rates: https://www.vox.com/2016/1/14/17991876/crime-drop-murder-lea... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis Regardless of what you think about the hypothesis, the growth and crunch in lead levels…

Late Soviet writers such as Strugatsky brothers would often bring out the topic of barbarism and brutality which is characteristic of Human race and had to be fought at all times...

...which is, as far as we know now, not innate but looks like symptoms of chronic lead poisoning.

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

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's not lead, that's limescale[1]. Dissolved limestone is carried through the pipes, and settles out as scale. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limescale

Yes, I didn't say it was lead. It is just a dirty, unpleasant container. Not where you want to get your drinking water, especially for tea.

It isn't just limescale in your hot water heater, it is whatever your water pipe carries in and accumulates in the tank. We lived at the beach and had to flush sand out every couple years.

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

#294
post #18
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.

There’s another loophole: “lead free” means that the wetted surface is no more than 0.25% lead (by mass, I think). As far as I know, lead has nice properties as an element added to brass alloys. Which is not an excuse for using it, IMO. (Why is any of this still a thing? Stainless steel is cheaper than copper these days, and it’s a great material as long as you aren’t trying to screw one piece of stainless steel into…

I recently fell in love with copper pipes. So many advantages, so easy to work with. Quick and nearly fool-proof.

I tried introducing some stainless fixtures and did not have a good time with it.

I'm not a pro by any means but I do all of my own plumbing and gas work in my house. Haven't had one issue out of iron gas pipe or copper water lines. I was actually planning a pex install/replacement, and I have worked with it in my camper, but I changed my mind after doing some more work with copper recently (replaced water pressure regulator). Waaaaay cheaper than messing with pex.

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

#295
post #267
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dude, you are spewing out random things as if they are fact. Yet you lack an understanding of what IQ is. In my previous career, I did quite a bit of research on IQ. I’m pretty sure I have a decent understanding of what it is. If you take out your straw-mans and overstatements of what I said, then I think you will be able to find research that supports everything I said above about IQ approximately to the degree of…

Let’s make it easy - please cite the research that shows that an IQ gap of 20+ leads to worse leadership results.

> Let’s make it easy - please cite the research that shows that an IQ gap of 20+ leads to worse leadership results.

Iirc, Greatness: Who Makes History and Why cites some research on this very topic.

There is more to be found — I’m sure you can find it if you try yourself or ask a librarian at a good academic library.

I will also add that you have conveniently ignored the fact that I prefaced that specific section with “imho”. It’s my opinion, and I stated all of those comments as such because I don’t think that there is any unassailable research in this area. There probably won’t be due to the difficulty of structuring a good and replicable study regarding IQ and IQ deltas specifically.

While the overall research is not air tight, there is research that I have done (unfortunately proprietary) that indicates that the “20 IQ point difference” concept is directionally correct (“directionally” because we had to use IQ proxies). Implementing this in organizational restructuring led to consistent measurable improvements at the extremes (which was our focus).

Given your challenging tone and style of engagement, I’m guessing that you’re hellbent on flaming. I’m not interested. As such, I will leave you to your library and librarian to find research that supports the ideas I have stated (assuming you bother to look).

“Leadership and IQ delta” a super interesting topic, but the current trends in psych research and psych funding unfortunately don’t really focus on these areas despite demand from outside of academia (it’s very political in an uninteresting way).

Best of luck!

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

#296
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not gone... pretty much every single person that shoots guns need to be aware of this. Of course gun people don't care about their health and they think with their 45 ug/dL lead level that youre "overreacting"... D-Lead is a very good company for deleading that i use obsessively, when shooting I once called them and talked to an engineer about lead for like 1.5 hours. I think it really surprised him someone was s…

It’s definitely a concern of mine, thanks for the heads up about that company. For those that aren’t aware, the primer in cartridges typically have lead styphnate, barium nitrate, and tetrazene, among other things. So even if your bullets have a complete copper jacket, you still get significant lead particulate exposure, especially indoors or with a suppressor with high back pressure. No idea if whatever smokeless po…

The lead jacket is always torn open and the barrel smeared with vaporized lead that comes flying out of the muzzle. There is no bullet that prevents lead poisoning in the environment. I'm a reloader/target marksman that has trapped/recovered plenty of bullets in my time.

The jacket just reduces lead fouling.

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

#297
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> estimates of lead's harm seem to be rising even as exposure decreases, which should make people stop and think more Is the effect size or confidence rising? The latter makes sense. We're moving from a population systematically exposed to lead (no control) to one with lead-free kids for a change.

Effect size, at least for harm to IQ: What is the effect of 1 μg of lead on IQ? Good studies from the different research eras can be used to illustrate how lead effect sizes have changed over time. Landrigan et al. (1975) represents the Early Era. In this study, there were 46 children in the high lead group and 78 in the control group. Their respective BLLs were 48.3 and 26.9 in 1972 and 40.5 and 26.5 in 1973, and th…

The figure in the article shows a diminishing marginal effect of increasing lead exposure, so this is all quite consistent with the theory.

I sure am wondering how much of the late 20th century Flynn effect was due to diminishing lead poisoning.

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

#298
post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The subsequent evidence is so strong that I don't think it's appropriate to call it faulty. In the paper "Life After Lead" they study a boundary effect of children who were just above and just below treatment thresholds for blood lead levels and the outcomes in terms of crime, school success, etc are stark. Figure 4(F) particularly. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20160056

I haven’t read the paper, but I wonder how well they control for economic status. I’d expect the better off a family is the less lead they have in their life - and I’d expect economic status to actually be a cause of better education, health, incarceration, etc.

They said “we compare outcomes for children who are similar across observable characteristics but differ in eligibility for intervention due to blood lead test results.” Economic status is observable, so ide guess it’s I caused; but I only read the abstract.

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

#299
post #50
post #26

Does anyone know the the risk is for electronics hobbyist?

Don't lick your boards, wash your hands before you eat, and if you're really concerned, wear gloves while handling solder wire. The smoke from soldering isn't lead - a soldering tip is (if it's not literally glowing into the yellows) far, far too cold to vaporize any lead from solder - you need to be 1500+C for it to start being a problem, and you're not soldering that high. It's rosin smoke, and if you're in doubt,…

A few years back spent a lot of time stripping lead paint using a heat gun and IR emitter thing ("silent paint remover"). It was definitely smelly, but I convinced myself that the temperatures were far too low to vaporize lead.

But in the back of my mind I always wondered if there was an equivalent of a eutectic mixture for the liquid/vapor phase transition.

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

#300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I moved I did a search not only for garden hose without lead but also without phthalates and BPA. There are a few goodun’s out there. Expensive though, but I also have hose connections that don’t leak because tolerances and decent seals.

In particular I would recommend the ELEY Garden Hose

Eley makes really good (but expensive) stuff. It bugs me that they moved their production overseas though. I could understand if they were selling a $5 sprayer or $15 hose reel. I think they could still make a good profit if their stuff was made back in Nebraska.
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