Thread: Lead bullets and their risk to human health

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Nonsense. You watch too much woke TV. If that was the case Lead would be banned and we wouldn't be digging it up. lead acid batteries, lead dive weights, lead fishing sinkers, none of them would exist.

Dont know about NZ, but workers/employees in AU are considered safe and healthy with low levels of lead in their blood. Regular testing is required. At a trigger point workers are removed from potential exposure for a few months until their lead blood levels return to normal Note, no medical intervention is required. The body removes the lead naturally.

These are full time workers exposed to lead daily. Yes, they are required to, follow procedures, wear PPE, use mechanical equipment such as extraction systems to reduce exposure. But none the less many have low levels of lead in the blood almost constantly.

Lead exposure is easy to manage. Young children are a different matter.

A large part of the problem is people repeating that nonsense on the www without checking the facts or having any knowledge on the matter.

And I'll add, similar nonsense is spruked about CO. Yes, It can be dangerous, but is exceptionally easy to manage.

I think its about time society in general, especially politicians are educated to understand that life is full of risks. Nothing is 100% safe. The exposure of lead should be very low on their list of priorities.

I recall somewhere that blood lead is the easy way to measure lead in the body - but not the only way the body accumulates lead. It also accumulates in the long bones during growth, and in parts of the body that don't readily exchange it with the blood (which is why it takes so long for the blood lead levels to drop as the 'slow tissues' release it back into the blood). This is one of the reasons for the current popularity of anti-lead - the effects on kids who are laying down a lot of calcium for the formation of bones (lead being a similar metal element to calcium I think is the order of battle there).