Anyone know chemist FReepers who might be willing to educate us on the toxicity of lead?
My understanding is that lead in the metallic form has a very low toxicity level and is hard for the body to absorb or metabolize. It just passes through.
Adults with lead shrapnel or bullets inside them that are not easily removed generally have them left their for life with no adverse effects.
That’s the upper limit of my knowledge about lead poisoning. Any experts we can use to refute this?
Knowledge is power and conservatives need both to win.
Soil with a pH above 7.0 would have a small solubility coefficient, but soil is never terribly acidic unless there has been some sort of toxic spill.
I meant a pH below 7.0.
Elemental (metallic) lead is not very soluble in water or in aqueous solutions having pH near seven (neutral). This is why they were able to get away with using lead pipe and lead utensils in ancient Rome. Let any chemistry happen with the lead though (like by storing acids, including fruit juices, in it) and lead salts go into solution. Many of these are water soluble and, for this reason, very bad.
There's pretty much no level of Pb that's benign in living organisms. It's a poison, period. It's particularly bad for children, but it has adverse effects on many biological systems. It's effects on neurological tissues are particularly nasty.
I think it's low solubility in water is the reason people are able to carry lead shrapnel around for decades with no ill effects other than discomfort.
If you google "lead poisoning" and look for the Wiki you will learn more about this subject than you need to know.
By the way, the "ancients" experimented with lead salts as a sweetener for a while. This period didn't last long. I think there is actually a lead compound called "sugar of lead." It's actually sweet.
I have handled both lead and mercury for years.
I mold my own bullets and avoid breathing in the fumes by doing it in a well ventilated area, usually outdoors....
when I had a malady I suggested to the doctor that I should be checked for heavy metal in my bloodstream....he sent me to the lab for testing and found not even remote trace amounts.
It takes quite a bit of exposure to get sick from lead.