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Lead is still bad for your brain
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Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s also lead in any random patch of dirt or gravel because it occurs naturally in granite at about 30 parts per million (and usually less in other rock types). https://www.science.smith.edu/~jbrady/petrology/igrocks-tool... The “action levels” of lead in food (fruits and vegetables, etc) are 10 parts per BILLION, and stuff less than that is considered acceptable, because otherwise freaking everything would test…
Another poster linked to this study that states [1] Existing rates of lead absorption are about 30 times higher than inferred natural rates It's not the case that all soil is contaminated with lead that then ends up in high levels in food. Top soil is composed mostly of decomposed plants. Plants only take up a small fraction of the lead in the soil. So the contamination of the top of the soil must reach some threshol…
I wouldn’t call it contamination if it’s literally just from natural soil and minerals sourced from fairly typical rocks.
I wasn’t claiming heightened lead exposure is good, just responding to those who seem shocked that we tolerate some low level of lead in foods. Obviously leaded paint is dumb and we STILL, for some reason (well, I know the reason, but it’s not a good one imo), allow leaded aviation fuel. In fact, fully unleaded fuel was not allowed in a very large fraction of general aviation aircraft until recently because the FAA dragged their feet in approving lead free fuel mixtures for heritage general aviation aircraft (which is a large fraction of the general aviation fleet since lawsuits and the FAA have made newer aircraft just obscenely expensive), which is still very rare in small airports.
It is, ironically, the downstream effect of improper and over-regulation of general aviation.
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only that. Life accumulated those over the eons, as the rocks eroded, the useful metals got saved by life, and the rest was washed down. So the natural levels are way higher. Life is good at hoarding these "heavy metals". People in this thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43631251 have been arguing that these people must have been some top class elite, and I totally get it. They are too good looking. But,…
Another poster linked to this study that states [1] Existing rates of lead absorption are about 30 times higher than inferred natural rates [1] https://sci-hub.se/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14334042/
That’s fully consistent with the idea that there has to be some threshold for lead in food because it’s literally naturally occurring in the soil.
In fact, to fully avoid lead, you’d basically have to carefully grow food hydroponically. Certified Organic mineral fertilizers like basalt rock dust (which provide calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, etc) would obviously not be okay if you wanted to eliminate all lead, as basalt contains 7.5ppm lead, comparable to the average in the Earth’s crust.
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#64There's a "acceptable minimum level of lead" in most processed foods such as baby food. This is because food cannot be heavily processed without some heavy metals leeching in, according to a food safety guy who is a long time friend. It is completely mind boggling we let that happen.
What do you think the regulatory standard should be set to? It is currently set to 10 ppb (parts per billion). Do you think it should be 0? 0.0000 ppb? No detectable lead whatsoever? What do you do if detection technology improves and the minimum detectable level decreases? Even if you go live totally off the grid with your child and grow your own vegetables in your backyard with completely natural ingredients, you w…
I would like it to be "equal or less than a standard reference food of similar ingredients" which would penalize adding lead or heavy metals via the processing itself instead of naturally occuring.
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my mind, there's only two acceptable uses of lead: radiation (x-ray, gamma ray) shielding, and ICE batteries. Even then, I expect there's much increased demand for those things (and thus, the lead to manufacture them) from 50 years ago.
Even ICE batteries is IMO not a valid use. Lithium batteries are better by almost every metric, and now nearly every model of car battery has a drop-in compatible lithium battery+controller too, so there isn't even an excuse for vehicles currently on the road. Lead batteries contain not just lead, but the H2SO4 needed to dissolve large amounts of it and transport it through watercourses when the plastic case inevitab…
No, but they are dead simple aren't they? Charging them is easy. They can handle super high discharge rates no problem. Construction is simple, only lead, sulfuric acid, and plastic. The materials are cheap, abundant, and recyclable. The battery chemistry is old and well understood. They aren't made from flammable materials, and if one does catch on fire, you can extinguish it using a normal fire extinguisher. They work well at low temperatures, and can be put in storage long term fully charged. About the only downside is they can make hydrogen if overcharged, and are heavy.
Too bad they use lead, because it would be too good to be true otherwise. You have to treat lithium batteries like a spoiled child in comparison.
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I posted here about how lead pipes during the Roman Empire was bad for the people I was met with a torrent of downvotes right here on Hackernews saying it wasn’t that bad. I’m not optimistic about the future.
I feel the same about leaded solder for hobby electronics.
At least leaded soldering wire is mostly contained in a large chunk, but I really don't like leaded solder paste. Which is like leaded peanut butter, and easily spread around.
All the new parts are designed based on a lead free process anyways, so you might as well get used to working with lead-free solder to begin with.
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#67Did 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 e…
Don't forget about lead in brass and free-machining steel. Got a normal metal? Now it has lead.
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#68This 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…
What was the source of your "toddler's" hi lead levels?
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only that. Life accumulated those over the eons, as the rocks eroded, the useful metals got saved by life, and the rest was washed down. So the natural levels are way higher. Life is good at hoarding these "heavy metals". People in this thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43631251 have been arguing that these people must have been some top class elite, and I totally get it. They are too good looking. But,…
Another poster linked to this study that states [1] Existing rates of lead absorption are about 30 times higher than inferred natural rates [1] https://sci-hub.se/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14334042/
What method was used to infer the natural rates?
Re: Lead is still bad for your brain
#70This 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…
What was the source of your "toddler's" hi lead levels?
Unfortunately I don't know. We have gotten rid of a lot of old toys and made sure our kitchen and plates are lead free and did some of that before a retest and that may have helped some. We are going to retest now that he is older and not sticking random stuff in his mouth much. He still eats a lot of sweet potatoes and I suspect that could be a source. I also just got some of the new easy to use lead testing kits and am starting to test some things with that but everything seems to come up negative so far.