Lead level blood test, what's yours.

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  • Threeband

    The M1 Does My Talking
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 30, 2006
    25,234
    Carroll County
    Mercury was used for other medical purposes, too.

    "A night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury!"



    ----


    My sixth grade science/physics class had us fooling around with mercury. There were bottles of the stuff lying around for us to play with.

    Venus we had to arrange for ourselves.
     

    snake-eye

    Active Member
    Jan 27, 2015
    167
    MD
    I can recall the days of leaded gasoline and its phasing out to unleaded gas. An independent study showed that with the removal of lead from gas, the airborn lead levels decreased with time. I don't always agree with politically motivated environmental actions, but that one was needed. Besides, it ultimately led to better autos and engines. Something the auto industry would not have done on their own IMHO.
     

    Doctor_M

    Certified Mad Scientist
    MDS Supporter
    Not joking at all. Elemental mercury is actually quite safe to handle. Just don't put it in a frying pan and breath the vapors. It was once used as a laxative. You drink a big slug of mercury, and it pushes everything through. Not a huge risk unless you do it every day for a good while.

    Exactly right. Inorganic mercury (elemental) is not readily absorbed (still need to be careful of vapors as Teratos suggests)... organic mercury however... now that is a different (and very deadly) kettle of fish. Once mercury is processed by certain bacteria, it can be incorporated into organometalic compounds which are very toxic.

    Dimethylmercury (CH3)2Hg is particularly bad news. I've worked with just about every kind of toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, explosive, and radioactive compound you can think of... and dimethylmercury is probably in my top 3 of things I don't want to handle at all.
     

    iH8DemLibz

    When All Else Fails.
    Apr 1, 2013
    25,396
    Libtardistan
    Not funny. They banned kid sized motorcycles because of the lead content. Solder in wires and a battery. There was better than a year when they couldn't be imported.

    I know it's not funny. That's my point.

    Let some Annapolis A-holes get their ass hairs knotted and go after lead reloading components. Storage devices for all ammo. Etc.

    It's all over the news now that "Citizen of the Year" was a paint chip eater.

    Can't have lead poisoning, and what it creates, running rampant throughout the land.

    It's for the children.
     

    DanGuy48

    Ultimate Member
    Not joking at all. Elemental mercury is actually quite safe to handle. Just don't put it in a frying pan and breath the vapors. It was once used as a laxative. You drink a big slug of mercury, and it pushes everything through. Not a huge risk unless you do it every day for a good while.

    Hmmmm.

    Check out this video and following link showing elemental Mercury sitting in a dish at room temperature as seen with UV illumination. FWIW though, I had a fair amount of elemental Mercury I played with, a lot, as a kid. I also grew up with tons of mercury amalgam fillings in my mouth. I can still thumb type on an iPad. :)

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JABbofwD3MI

    The link below (3rd page) says that 75-85% of those vapors inhaled are absorbed by lungs.

    http://web.mit.edu/cohengroup/safety/mercury040109.pdf
     

    Gambler

    ¿Got Freedom?
    Oct 30, 2011
    3,476
    Parkville
    I had mine tested a few years ago and was a 12. I was only 30, so he was a little concerned. I just shoot, I don't reload, I had no clue as to why it would be elevated. I should probably get it checked again.
     

    Magnumite

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 17, 2007
    6,564
    Harford County, Maryland
    I can recall the days of leaded gasoline and its phasing out to unleaded gas. An independent study showed that with the removal of lead from gas, the airborn lead levels decreased with time. I don't always agree with politically motivated environmental actions, but that one was needed. Besides, it ultimately led to better autos and engines. Something the auto industry would not have done on their own IMHO.

    While the airborn lead was an issue, the use of unleaded fuel was mandated because it renders catalytic converters ineffective.

    Studies were done to appeared to support the finding urban children learned at a slower rate than children in suburban and rural areas. It was attributed to airborn lead. But it wasn't a great amount, a few percentage points off the learning pace. No lead in fuel now and we have the same learning issues.

    Kids riding motor cycles outside, negligible effects at most.

    Now we (CA, MD and MA) need catalysts in weed eaters and lawn mowers...yarrite. Vehicle emissions are low now the EPA has to substantiate the size of their agency.
    Lead poisoning from shooting ranges? Health has become a political tool now, not a wellness concern.

    While some of the issues are legitimate to a degree. Auto engines are vastly cleaner, more efficient and powerful. No doubt they would have gotten there eventually but not as quickly. The big issue is power agencies can be overzealous in legitimizing their own growth and reach.
     

    Alan3413

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 4, 2013
    16,929
    FWIW though, I had a fair amount of elemental Mercury I played with, a lot, as a kid. I also grew up with tons of mercury amalgam fillings in my mouth. I can still thumb type on an iPad. :)

    Forrest? Is that you?
     

    zoostation

    , ,
    Moderator
    Jan 28, 2007
    22,857
    Abingdon
    I can recall the days of leaded gasoline and its phasing out to unleaded gas. An independent study showed that with the removal of lead from gas, the airborn lead levels decreased with time. I don't always agree with politically motivated environmental actions, but that one was needed. Besides, it ultimately led to better autos and engines. Something the auto industry would not have done on their own IMHO.


    There's starting to be some pretty good statistical evidence that the burning of leaded gasoline may have been what caused the great spike in crime during the 1960's that lasted through the early 1990's. The 60's, right as the first baby boomers hit adolescence, the first generation to have so many kids grow up in urban areas so heavily polluted by car emissions. And then in the 90's, crime rates began to fall. No one has ever figured out why. Probably not from the good example the Clintons were setting. Now some researchers are noting that the crime rates began to fall as the lead gasoline-era kids got older and the younger "lead-free gas" kids hit young adulthood (leaded gas was banned in the early-mid 70's). The crime maps almost mimic the pollution maps. So the crime spike of the 60's might be one thing we can't necessarily blame the liberals for. (But we can blame GM, since leaded gas was their idea, so that's something I guess...;))

    Not considered conclusively proven, at least yet, but a theory worth considering.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27067615
     

    Magnumite

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 17, 2007
    6,564
    Harford County, Maryland
    Correlation studies should be approached with caution. Social unrest was high in the 60's on several fronts, so the incidence of crime would follow. With social assistance in many cases paying better than honest jobs (thanks inflation) there is reduced incentive to commit crimes in the 90's. Not saying these are the reasons crime was reduced but...

    "One study indicated greater incidence of infant deaths follows the increased temperature of asphalt during the summer months" as my Tests and Measurements instructor used to point out.
     

    Traveler

    Lighten up Francis
    Jan 18, 2013
    8,227
    AA County
    The sixties was a huge period of "fatherlessness" post WWII. Lots of fathers killed in wartime, not there to raise their kids, etc. Mom was off the the factory as well. I am convinced it raised hell with the family, and the resulted in lots of issues for the children.
     

    pwoolford

    AR15's make me :-)
    Jan 3, 2012
    4,186
    White Marsh
    Correlation studies should be approached with caution. Social unrest was high in the 60's on several fronts, so the incidence of crime would follow. With social assistance in many cases paying better than honest jobs (thanks inflation) there is reduced incentive to commit crimes in the 90's. Not saying these are the reasons crime was reduced but...

    "One study indicated greater incidence of infant deaths follows the increased temperature of asphalt during the summer months" as my Tests and Measurements instructor used to point out.

    Another ineresting theory on why crime could have went down in the 90's:

    http://freakonomics.com/2005/05/15/abortion-and-crime-who-should-you-believe/
     

    zoostation

    , ,
    Moderator
    Jan 28, 2007
    22,857
    Abingdon
    Correlation studies should be approached with caution.

    Oh I know. My undergrad degree is in social science/psych so believe me, they made sure I knew. :)::spank:

    Like I said I don't think it's anything conclusive, at least at this point, but it is interesting. And about the best explanation I think I've heard, personally. There's lots of theories explaining why the crime rate went up in the 60's but the big hole that always appears is that no one can ever seem to really nail down why it decreased so much thirty years later.

    The difference between this and studies that show mere correlation is of course the fact that we have hard evidence tying lead exposure to brain damage in kids. I think that part is pretty much accepted as a given nowadays.

    Personally, I think a lot more than we realize, much of the deviant and bizarre human behavior we see every day may have it's roots in environmental toxins we don't even know about or understand yet.

    Reyes and Nevin are probably the two best known researchers associated with the lead gasoline-crime theory, I put in some links for their more recent work here. Nevin originally published his first analysis in 1999, but the 2007 paper I have attached looked at wordwide data and found very similar associations. As you can see, it's pretty exhaustive analyses, especially Nevin's work.

    http://www.nber.org/papers/w13097.pdf

    http://pic.plover.com/Nevin/Nevin2007.pdf
     

    Not_an_outlaw

    Ultimate Member
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 26, 2013
    4,679
    Prince Frederick, MD
    I wasn't feeling well and had a lead level test. I failed. What was interesting was that I found out through the state health department first. The results were forwarded to the state as a requirement from state law. I wrote my local legislators who did nothing. Anyone else have an issue with this?
     

    zoostation

    , ,
    Moderator
    Jan 28, 2007
    22,857
    Abingdon
    I wasn't feeling well and had a lead level test. I failed. What was interesting was that I found out through the state health department first. The results were forwarded to the state as a requirement from state law. I wrote my local legislators who did nothing. Anyone else have an issue with this?

    You mean the doctor who ordered the test never contacted you when the results came back out of spec? I think I'd be finding a new doctor.
     

    teratos

    My hair is amazing
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 22, 2009
    59,775
    Bel Air
    You mean the doctor who ordered the test never contacted you when the results came back out of spec? I think I'd be finding a new doctor.
    Agree. The lab and doctor are both supposed to report certain things. The doc gets the results first. I always call patients in this situation. Not only to discuss the results, but warn them the health department is going to call.
     

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