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Lead is still bad for your brain

neurofrontiers.blog

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Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#21

Post by storf45 »

rietta wrote: post #5
damnitbuilds wrote: post #2

I live with children in a very old house. I would love to be able to measure my children's lead exposure and check things like window paint or house dust for lead content to see how big a problem there is. How do I do that?

You can request blood lead labs done through your doctor. People who work in industry and competition shooters and such will get that done to track.

I’ve more recently have gotten into competition shooting and it is definitely something to be aware of because it can easily slip into concerning exposure levels. A Reddit group I’m in just had a guy find out he was over exposed. Here’s the post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nass/comments/1jtrzm7/lead_levels/

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#22

Post by wffurr »

Reason077 wrote: post #15

> “even if we were to completely stop mining for and using lead (which we aren’t, since the lead-acid battery market is projected to increase in the next years” I’m surprised by this. Modern cars (EVs, at least) have started replacing their 12V lead batteries with Li-ion, which are more durable, store much more energy, and of course are less toxic. But in any case, isn’t the one advantage of lead-acid batteries their…

Most EVs have a 12V lead acid battery for standby power and to buffer the 12V accessory system. The solenoids to the traction battery are open when parked and the 12V battery closes them when the car is started.

This does mean you might actually need a “jump start” for an EV if the 12V battery is drained, eg from leaving a light on or a fault in the 12V charging system.

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#23

Post by leguminous »

djohnston wrote: post #6
damnitbuilds wrote: post #2

I live with children in a very old house. I would love to be able to measure my children's lead exposure and check things like window paint or house dust for lead content to see how big a problem there is. How do I do that?

There are test kits for at-home usecases like paint and stuff - I think they're pretty reliable. For exposure, you can get blood tests at your GP. They might be absurdly expensive if you're in America, but maybe next time you travel to Europe you can pay privately and get a better deal.

Some US states require lead screening (blood tests) for babies and toddlers. In that case they are covered by insurance. My son has been tested once so far.

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#24

Post by dustincoates »

gregwebs wrote: post #14

This is a great article on the biology of lead exposure. Unfortunately on the exposure side research wasn’t done and it propagates the myth that lead exposure is only an issue for those with lead pipes or lead paint. It’s true that these are the main sources of severe lead exposure. However the article points out that there is no safe level of exposure to lead and these aren’t the main ways we are exposed to lead in…

There can even be lead in fruit pouches: https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/news/outbreak-applesauce...

I'm far from crunchy, but this led me to start making my kids pouches. They're more expensive per pouch, which was a bit surprising, but it has the side benefits that we make the pouches together (quality time) and I can control what goes in (e.g., spinach, carrots, broccoli).

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#25

Post by matthewdgreen »

damnitbuilds wrote: post #2

I live with children in a very old house. I would love to be able to measure my children's lead exposure and check things like window paint or house dust for lead content to see how big a problem there is. How do I do that?

As the other commenter mentioned, you can buy at-home testing kits. But what you really want is to hire a lead testing and remediation company. We also live in an old house and we spent a huge amount of time applying "lead block" paint and replacing older windows (disastrous for lead dust because of the friction) and some older pipes. You may also want to test your outdoor soil, because older houses near roads will accumulate lead paint in soil due to years of traffic fumes, plus lead dust from the exterior of the house. Kids will sometimes eat dirt, don't ask me how I know. (Also: regular blood lead tests for your young kids! If you live in an older city this will be standard.)

Also if you do any construction that disturbs old paint (demolition, window replacement) be careful to seal off the area using plastic, then clean it carefully with disposable wipes.

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#27

Post by londons_explore »

Did you know, the world still mines more lead now than it did 50 years ago, at the peak of 'put lead in everything' mania?

To me, this says that we still put lead in too many things. Lead is still used for flashing in roofs. It's still used as a mould release when making plastics. It's still used in making dishware. It's still used in bullets.

It's still used for all kinds of things which will one day end up in the environment and someone's drinking water.

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#28

Post by gregwebs »

dustincoates wrote: post #24
gregwebs wrote: post #14

This is a great article on the biology of lead exposure. Unfortunately on the exposure side research wasn’t done and it propagates the myth that lead exposure is only an issue for those with lead pipes or lead paint. It’s true that these are the main sources of severe lead exposure. However the article points out that there is no safe level of exposure to lead and these aren’t the main ways we are exposed to lead in…

There can even be lead in fruit pouches: https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/news/outbreak-applesauce... I'm far from crunchy, but this led me to start making my kids pouches. They're more expensive per pouch, which was a bit surprising, but it has the side benefits that we make the pouches together (quality time) and I can control what goes in (e.g., spinach, carrots, broccoli).

I am glad you are finding the time to avoid contaminated industrial processed food.

In the apple sauce contaminations the apple sauce is always cinnamon flavored. When tested for various heavy metals, cinnamon usually has unsafe levels of heavy metal contamination, and lead is usually one of the metals: https://tamararubin.com/2024/12/six-cinnamon-products-chart/

There is widespread contamination in spices because the machinery that processes most spices is made of metal with lead. Some of the lead may be unintentional contamination, but lead is also used intentionally because it is cheap and useful. I believe it is useful for grinding, etc because when used in an alloy the metal doesn't wear down as easily.

So if you want to replicate those apple sauce products without heavy metal you would need to buy cinnamon sticks and grate them yourself.

Re: Lead is still bad for your brain

#30

Post by Reason077 »

wffurr wrote: post #22
Reason077 wrote: post #15

> “even if we were to completely stop mining for and using lead (which we aren’t, since the lead-acid battery market is projected to increase in the next years” I’m surprised by this. Modern cars (EVs, at least) have started replacing their 12V lead batteries with Li-ion, which are more durable, store much more energy, and of course are less toxic. But in any case, isn’t the one advantage of lead-acid batteries their…

Most EVs have a 12V lead acid battery for standby power and to buffer the 12V accessory system. The solenoids to the traction battery are open when parked and the 12V battery closes them when the car is started. This does mean you might actually need a “jump start” for an EV if the 12V battery is drained, eg from leaving a light on or a fault in the 12V charging system.

Yes, EVs still have a 12V battery, but it’s not always lead acid. Tesla, for example, switched from lead acid to Li-ion 12V batteries in all their models several years ago. So have Porsche, even in combustion models I believe.
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