Do you know how much lead is in your household?

Question

Despite phasing out lead in gas in 1973, removing it from residential house paint in 1978, and outlawing lead-laden paint in chldren's toys, we're still threatened by lead in many consumer products.

Dishware, jewelry, glue stick caps, vinyl backpacks, children's ceramic tea sets -- there are many items with lead content not on any federal recall list your family may be exposed to. The recent toy recalls have pushed the issue back into view, but is the general public paying attention?

Do you know the symptoms? Have you contacted the federal government to press for federally administered, 3rd party safety testing and inspection? Have you ever had your kids tested to see what their levels are?

The December issue of Consumer Reports is a good place to start if you'd like to learn more about this silent threat to our families.

Answer 1

I count the boxes of bullets I have.

Answer 2

When I grew up. we had lead soldiers and cowboys to play with, glasses containing lead contents and also the ceramics etc. it didn't harm us. I think we are too overly- sensitive to media or scientific reports. If we believe everything they say, even letting the kids play in the garden is just as unsafe.

Answer 3

um, no.... but thanx for letting me know

Answer 4

It's ok. At our house we teach the children not to eat those things you mentioned. Lead is merely a method to cleanse the gene pool. I do have a very nice collection of mercury.

Answer 5

I've got close to a quarter ton of lead in my household.  It's wonderful stuff.  Its physical properties and relatively low cost make it ideal for many applications.  I always take appropriate precautions when handling it and have never had any symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, just like most of the millions of other humans who have come in contact with lead-based items over the last 8,000 or so years.

While lead poses health risks, just as any heavy metal, attempts to reduce the use of lead have also caused substantial risks.  For example, in April 2005, a low-lead diode (presumably intended to comply with RoHS initiatives) caused an emergency shutdown of the Millstone Power Station, a nuclear reactor facility in Southeast Connecticut.  The diode developed tin whiskers, which are much more likely as the amount of lead is reduced in tin/lead alloys.  The tin whiskers shorted out a circuit board, causing a false low-pressure reading that tripped automatic safety protocols, forcing the unplanned, emergency shutdown of the nuclear reactor.  So, before condemning a naturally occurring element that has been used beneficially by civilization for thousands of years, it should be realized that further attempts to ban lead could cause more harm than good.

Actually, lead is a much safer element than the elements from whence it comes in that lead 206 is not radioactive.  Lead 206 is a stable isotope that serves as the terminus of radioactive decay chains.  So, now that environmentalists have come around to favoring nuclear energy as supposedly reducing global warming, lead 206 is the relatively *safe* end product obtained after billions of years of storage of nuclear waste, after the relatively hazardous radioisotopes have decayed into lead 206.

Also, remember that lead is a natural resource.  It is present in the earth's natural geological features and in plants and animals living on the earth.  As the third link I list below notes, natural events, such as volcanoes and forest fires, release lead into the air.  For example, the recent fires in California probably released lead into the air that Californians were breathing.

Answer 6

You know come to think about it my sinkers are 100% lead and my daughter uses them all the time and has never gotten sick, or for that fact neither have i and i know have been exposed to more than 1000 times the lead she has (considering i was born in 1980, when there was still lead-based paints in houses) so what gives???