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 e…
Many of those uses of lead don't end up in the environment. Lead is actually quite inert when in metal form - it develops an oxide/carbonate layer and there is little erosion. Metal in bullets is pretty inert and shooting ranges filter air before exhausting it (as dust is formed from impact). As for lead in plastic manufacturing or dishware, that's mostly a matter of buying wisely. As it tends to be used in less deve…
> shooting ranges filter air before exhausting it (as dust is formed from impact).
Where do you live? I have never shot a gun indoors. Every range I have been to is open air. Multiple states, including California.
I am a metal worker, and a foodie, living on a farm, and have experience and contacts in varios parts of the food industry, and have never come across lead, in any food relate items. As to alloying with lead, it has been used historicaly to make steal easier to machine "free machining steel" , but has no part in high strength or tool steels, and the steels used in grinding machines are going to be food grade..... eve…
So the lead in food comes from color and flavor additives. How did it get into those ingredients?
It's a deep dive, but an example or two might help, a great deal of food is processed and handled under purely industrial conditions, with
all of it strored for some time, and shipped long distances, this causes oxidation and reduction of
the most volitile and flavorfull/coulorfull components, which then must be protected or added back in when it is packaged for sale.
Hence a vast industry devoted to flavorings, and coulorants, where many of these substances that were used are now banned, at least in a patch work fashion. Lead and other heavy metals are added to
alter flavor and coulor, they are cheap and readily availible and also I suspect work as preservatives, allowing unscrupulous middlemen to by up large quantities of substandard product, and
alter it enough to make it appear good enough for retailers to sell.
Then there are agricultural areas that have been poluted by industry, mining, war, or naturaly, or even by past agricultural "mistakes", and again unscrupulous people can make large proffits by
concealing the origin of what they are selling.
So I buy spices as whole unground items, and choose carefully from small ethnic groceries, that cater to people keeping culinary traditions alive, and know by sight and smell the quality of what they are buying, and are often very hapoy to share there way of determining the good from the bad, and precisely, what to look for.
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…
I've heard that cilantro is a reasonably effective anti-chelating agent. The jury's out on whether it helps with lead that's already made it to the brain, but there's some evidence showing it's generally helpful with mitigating the side effects of heavy metal exposure.
> “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…
86% of lead being mined is for batteries. I just replaced my UPS battery, and their shop was stacked high with UPS devices and battery packs and it was a real reminder to the massive amount of batteries out there.
So data centres and edge compute UPS devices. Something has to keep the lights on when the power goes out while the generator kicks in. While the lead is recyclable, the power demand keeps going up. So my guess is AI…
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…
> Even ICE batteries is IMO not a valid use. Why? I would posit that lithium batteries do way more damage to the environment than lead-acid batteries. Recycling of lead-acid batteries is very prevalent because it is economically worth it.
Isn't that implied by the context? Lead is fantastically bad for human health and it's worth the cons to use Li batteries to avoid pulling lead out of the earth and into the chain of human contaminants
.
His whole thing is about environmental toxins probably being the cause of most of our problems, so no that doesn't seem likely.
His whole thing is making money. Whatever grift it is he'll grab it, that is all it is with persona's that pretend science is fake.
Nuh-uh! That's not his whole thing. He's also into destroying the lives of his ex wives after commiting mass adultery and getting them to kill themselves.
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 th…
I am a metal worker, and a foodie, living on a farm, and have experience and contacts in varios parts of the food industry, and have never come across lead, in any food relate items. As to alloying with lead, it has been used historicaly to make steal easier to machine "free machining steel" , but has no part in high strength or tool steels, and the steels used in grinding machines are going to be food grade..... eve…
> So back to the lead and heavy metals, and how they are intentionaly added as "flavor enhansers"
Any source on this? Lead as flavor enhancer? That would be crazy if true.