Lead Contamination ???

[KCSO]

Here is how dangerous lead was thought to be in 1960.

I went to an old print shop to negotiate the purchase of a smelter. This was a natural gas unit with a pot for 300 lbs. It was built into a basement of the print shop in the 30's and was used up until about 1979. The dirt floor of the basement was just about all lead droppings and there wasn't a winjdow in the whole place. The smelted 300 lbs a week in there for over 50 years. The pot was a covered unit and was vented into the buildings chimney. I asked the owner about lead vapors and he said that as lond as you didn't smoke while working the lead it wouldn't bother you. He also told me that after the big hoorah about lead he got a blood test and was just fine, so he hasn't worried about it. He did admit that his dad died of lung cancer at 85, but he didn't know if that was the lead or the 2 packs of Camels a day. Meanwhile I have kids who want a blood test every 3 months because they work on an outdoor range and that is a dangerous environment. Sometimes I wonder how anyone ever lived over 25 in Missouri, as that whole country is one giant lead deposit.

[357maximum]

Sometimes I wonder about all this looniness myself...especially when you start doing a little surfing on the lead wheelweight thing......

some claim that there are from 40 to 400 wheelweights per mile of roadway...where the hell do they get them numbers? I have worked on/ in/ under/ beside the road for over 12 years...my wheelweight find...and trust me I LOOK would be a grand total of around 12 maybe 15 wheelweights.....and most of them were found where someone did the ol' curb check rounding a corner.....how many wheelweights have your vehicles thrown into space in your life?....I have been driving my own vehicles for over 16 years....I have never lost a single one....

Gubment employees need to justify their jobs me thinks....

Another issue that troubles me is the waterfowl and lead issue....I have personally fed several tame mallards lead shot mixed with grit..for several months at a time....no dead mallards ever....Yeah lead kills ducks.....at 12 to 13 hundred feet per second....I believe "THEY" had the results to that lead survey before "THEY" did the study....

All that being said.. NO ...I would not go out of my way to ingest lead in any form myself....but sometimes I wonder....


Rant complete

Michael

[9.3X62AL]

Short answer--it was loons making rules for duck hunting in 1980, as far as I'm concerned.

[Dale53]

I had a somewhat interesting experience recently. I am 71 and have been casting bullets since I was 13 or so. I was in my Doctor's office for my semi-annual check up. I asked the Dr. about the advisability of having my blood checked for lead. He asked if I had been eating lead. I laughed and said no. He said unless I was ingesting lead that there was no danger (I don't smoke and I wash my hands carefully before eating). He further stated, "You're not going to change your behavior, anyway." We both laughed and I went on my way.

This coming from a physician who is VERY concerned about his patients and their welfare. He just was not concerned about lead "problems".

Just use common sense precautions and forget the BS.

However, there ARE areas of concern. I had a young female friend that was sweeping up a commercial range for her father (he managed a commercial indoor range of some size that was used a LOT). She was doing this without a mask. After a couple of years she was tested and found to have hign levels of lead in her body. Treatment followed and she, as far as I know, had no serious problems later in life. However, breathing that dust that contained lead is a no-no (primer compounds, etc).

Dale53

[KCSO]

It wasn't lead killing the ducks it was Eagles eating the ducks and ingesting lead oxide from the inside of the ducks. Lead is not bad, lead oxide (the white stuff) is deadly. I am carrying a hunk of lead and my Great Uncle carried several chunks for over 70 years. I wonder how much lead concern is backdoor gun control.

[357maximum]

I wonder how much lead concern is backdoor gun control.

Proably only about 99.9% of it...