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09/21/2007: "Lead Paint"
Dating back to 6,500 BC, historians think that lead was probably one of the first metals produced by man. Lead-based paint has been around for some time. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned house paint with a lead content of more than 600 ppm in 1978. Houses and apartments built before 1978 will most likely have lead paint on the walls and window trim. Dangers to exposure come from the dust created by cleanup or preparation like sanding for repainting.
Lead is in paint because it greatly improves its performance. Besides its use as a pigment, it speeds drying, increases durability and resists moisture. Lead-based paint is still used in industry such as the military and roadway markings.
It is most dangerous to children as their bodies are still developing, causing nervous system damage, hearing loss, stunted growth, reduced IQ, and developmental delays. However, lead exposure in adults can cause many immune system failures. Also mental setbacks such as dementia and Alzheimer’s are blamed on heavy metal exposure. Mad Hatters’ disease was caused by the lead in hat maker’s equipment.
Lead has been used in manufacturing for some time. It wasn’t all that long ago that we phased out leaded gasoline. That additive will seem obscene when we look back 100 years from now. Lead paint was a standard in all of our toys and cars when we were kids. I am curious that it has recently become a government push back against China and other manufacturing nations. Did we finally find a way to stem the massive trade deficit? Maybe we are trying to find a way to slow down China’s economic growth? Here is a it of irony for you, the Times today had an article that the lunch bags that the state distributed for the healthy lunch program contain lead and should be disposed of. (Properly I hope.)
Heavy metals do not leave our bodies naturally. Thus all of us are carrying around a measurable level in our systems. We must go through a chelating procedure to assist the process.