EPA new rules shuts down last lead plant.

[dougb1946]

One of the problems with lead poisoning is that it effects thinking-you may not have the ability to reason well after exposure. And of course, you become irritable. Of course, that describes most of us after age 50, but lead is a real problem. You won't notice anything different in children unless they develop tremors, because they stay the same-they just don't develop fully. Personally, I am going to blame lead poisoning for the tremor in my right hand and trigger finger.

Lead poisoning rates rise in U.S. after CDC lowers blood cutoff - CBS News

Too much lead can harm developing brains and can mean a lower IQ.
The new number translates to about 1 in 38 young children.

Lead poisoning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems. It interferes with the development of the nervous system and is therefore particularly toxic to children, causing potentially permanent learning and behavior disorders. Symptoms include abdominal pain, confusion, headache, anemia, irritability, and in severe cases seizures, coma, and death.

Lead poisoning is a real problem. If you don't recognize a problem, you can not deal with it. If you don't deal with this, it will bite your grand kids. Denial is not dealing with it.

 

[jaykellogg]

While I heartily agree that lead is a poison and lead exposure (especially in children) should be avoided. So is cadmium and mercury. I admit to coating pennies with mercury when a youngster in spite of being warned it was dangerous. The term "Mad as a Hatter" comes from when hat makers tanned hides with mercury. They all went crazy. You can absorb it through your skin. Now the Government in all of its wisdom is telling us to invest in CFL bulbs. Did you know if you break a fluorescent bulb in your home you release deadly mercury? Do you recycle your dead fluorescent bulbs? Do you even know how? Immagine how much mercury will be in out landfills after folks just throw all these bulbs in the garbage.

 

[rojodiablo]

Regarding lead in home water pipes, some homes have acid water. The water will dissolve a bit of solder overnight. Also your kitchen faucet is probably made of brass with up to 2% lead added to help the chips break up when the brass is machined. It is good practice to run just a bit of water into the sink before you collect some for drinking or cooking. I have used the plumbing solder with antimony in it and cannot tell the difference. Copper pipes are on their way out anyway.

The EPA has written rules that has made many other businesses unprofitable.

Uhhhhhh................... you do understand that the lead in your car battery sits in a solution of 40% SULFURIC ACID, right? as in, burn your flesh right off you acid.

And, you do understand that a TOMATO has more acid in it than your water ever would, right? Cut a tomato, and put it on a fishing weight and leave it there. You will see........ absolutely NOTHING will happen to it.

There has been no lead in solder for plumbing pipe for nearly 25 years. In 1986, the Safe Water Drinking Act bumped lead from pipe solder.
Now; BEFORE that, lead solder in pipes would last about forever. But NOW........now solder uses tin and antimony, and a bit of silver. What will burn up in a solder is the tin and antimony.

A big part of why copper pipes tend to not last as long as in the previous generation is the different alloys now used in solder have different dialectic qualities, and they will attract some minerals/ elements, and some they will promote stripping it from surrounding materials. Meaning........ they will strip elements from the copper pipe itself, allowing it to corrode.

 

[jaykellogg]

Uhhhhhh................... you do understand that the lead in your car battery sits in a solution of 40% SULFURIC ACID, right? as in, burn your flesh right off you acid.

And, you do understand that a TOMATO has more acid in it than your water ever would, right? Cut a tomato, and put it on a fishing weight and leave it there. You will see........ absolutely NOTHING will happen to it.

There has been no lead in solder for plumbing pipe for nearly 25 years. In 1986, the Safe Water Drinking Act bumped lead from pipe solder.
Now; BEFORE that, lead solder in pipes would last about forever. But NOW........now solder uses tin and antimony, and a bit of silver. What will burn up in a solder is the tin and antimony.

A big part of why copper pipes tend to not last as long as in the previous generation is the different alloys now used in solder have different dialectic qualities, and they will attract some minerals/ elements, and some they will promote stripping it from surrounding materials. Meaning........ they will strip elements from the copper pipe itself, allowing it to corrode.

I know I have been warned for over 40 years about lead in drinking water and Cadmium being used to harden waterpipes. Also the ancient Romans used lead pipes to deliver water to their homes and suffered from lead poisoning. The high cost of copper makes copper plumbing prohibitive in today's homes. There are cheaper and easier to install products available today.

 

[rojodiablo]

One of the problems with lead poisoning is that it effects thinking-you may not have the ability to reason well after exposure. And of course, you become irritable. Of course, that describes most of us after age 50, but lead is a real problem. You won't notice anything different in children unless they develop tremors, because they stay the same-they just don't develop fully. Personally, I am going to blame lead poisoning for the tremor in my right hand and trigger finger.

Lead poisoning rates rise in U.S. after CDC lowers blood cutoff - CBS News



Lead poisoning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Lead poisoning is a real problem. If you don't recognize a problem, you can not deal with it. If you don't deal with this, it will bite your grand kids. Denial is not dealing with it.

There is still real, honest to goodness lead water pipe in service in many of the very old buildings on the east coast of the US.
Lead was the liner for the pipe system for the Roman empire. When Rome was built, much of the channels and pipe were lead lined, and truth be told......... a good bit of it is STILL in service to this day. When exposed to oxygen; almost all alloys and metals oxidize. The oxidation is a sacrificial protective skin on the material; natures way of shielding a material so it is not dissolved too quickly. As if God was an engineer.
Lead in water lines oxidizes. And when it does, the lead is harmless. Drinking water from lead pipes, yes you should clear the first bit of water. But in the overall? The lead in the pipes is not hurting people. Simple reality vs. fear mongering.
Lead makes you dumb. Yeah, if you get a lot of lead vapor ingested, you will have damages. Inhale too much burning wood vapor, you have issues too......
The entire civilized world drank from lead pipes for over 500 YEARS. How many of the worlds' population show any signs of lead poisoning, and how many worldwide showed neurological damages that were a result of lead?

I am not saying lead is the greatest stuff ever. (Beer is.) But to say that the trace lead we are receiving in life is utterly detrimental to our health is simply not true. For the last 500 years, humans ingested, were exposed to, and absorbed far greater amounts of lead than anyone walking the earth today. And the truth is.......... they were fine.
Are there some who will have horrible reactions to lead ingestion? YES. There are people who can die from eating a peanut butter sandwich. A friggin' PEANUT can kill a person. While 99% of the world can eat peanuts and get off scott-free.
Some break out in a rash if they brush up against some materials like fiberglass cloth. But they can rub against a window with no problems. Believe it or not, they are the same material.

Factual history shows the overall lead poisoning/ lead reaction rates to be minuscule. It has been surmised that Nero was tripped out because of possible lead exposure. One can never be sure, drugs and alcohol also play major roles in space cadet behavior, as can a good bonk to the head.

 

[rojodiablo]

I know I have been warned for over 40 years about lead in drinking water and Cadmium being used to harden waterpipes. Also the ancient Romans used lead pipes to deliver water to their homes and suffered from lead poisoning. The high cost of copper makes copper plumbing prohibitive in today's homes. There are cheaper and easier to install products available today.

Hard water from ground supplies makes me think more and more about Pex tubing for my eventual house build.......... The stuff is very good.

 

[jaykellogg]

IIRC archaeologists have determined that wealthier (ancient) Roman citizens had higher lead in their bones than the poor. At one time tomatoes were considered poison partly because people used pewter plates and flatware and the acid in the tomatoes released lead.

Lead poisoning is one of the reasons that the poor don't do as well in school as wealthier students. Poor are more like to live in residences with lead paint.

Lead abatement is important at indoor ranges.

 

[jaykellogg]

Hard water from ground supplies makes me think more and more about Pex tubing for my eventual house build.......... The stuff is very good.

I think Pex is state of the art today. BTW, I am a small time property manager and investor. I have a log cabin that is all Pex and in my home I have PVC and CPVC, but the plumbers used Pex for my recent addition.

 

[arjay]

I used pex in my sisters kitchen remodel.The time savings over sweating in all new copper was fantastic.5 years old and no problems.

 

[Wee Hooker]

They are closing the plant that makes new lead. Most lead you see and use is in fact recycled lead. That plant is running strong. Your wheel and fishing weighs, battery terminals, ammo and everything else is made from recycled lead.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Hate to sound like an alarmist (because I'm not) but it makes me wonder. Are they eating this elephant one bite at a time? Could the recycling plants be subject to new regs soon too? Could this even be driven by a hidden agenda by the government to further squeeze the availability and raise the price of ammo in an effort to reduce ranks of shooters (and therefore the gun lobby?) It's really not a far stretch when you think about it as all the means are within their grasp.

 

[Wee Hooker]

I think Pex is state of the art today. BTW, I am a small time property manager and investor. I have a log cabin that is all Pex and in my home I have PVC and CPVC, but the plumbers used Pex for my recent addition.

I just purchased a higher end modular home and the entire clean water side is made of Pex. I guess my only gripe with it is that I'm not comfortable adding/altering plumping anymore as I once was with sweating pipes. This stuff is Greek to me :-(

 

[arjay]

I just purchased a higher end modular home and the entire clean water side is made of Pex. I guess my only gripe with it is that I'm not comfortable adding/altering plumping anymore as I once was with sweating pipes. This stuff is Greek to me :-(

It's very easy to work with,use a scrap piece and attach a few fittings to get a feel for it.

 

[george minze]

I guess we should all use wind power...Works good with airplanes and tanks.....We should no longer worry about our national debt....Our advisaries will take pity on us....I am old enough I won't have to learn Chinise, and I don't worry a bout buying all our energy from those who at best tolerat us and some who flat hate us.....We have wind power don't you know.......I wonder if you can run a tank on wind power, etc, etc. We need to stay self suffecient folks we are not the most liked nation any more.....We have so many friends in the world, heck they will provide for us I'm sure.......and pigs fly and electric cars are real nice if you arn't going anywhere...My opinion is we need to regain our self sufficientcy..

 

[rojodiablo]

Hate to sound like an alarmist (because I'm not) but it makes me wonder. Are they eating this elephant one bite at a time? Could the recycling plants be subject to new regs soon too? Could this even be driven by a hidden agenda by the government to further squeeze the availability and raise the price of ammo in an effort to reduce ranks of shooters (and therefore the gun lobby?) It's really not a far stretch when you think about it as all the means are within their grasp.

You DO understand that bullets/ ammunition production in the US uses less lead every year than the fishing industry does, right?
If there is such a chart as to show exactly how many tons of lead are used in each industry, ammunition is going to be like 3rd.
3rd from the BOTTOM.

 

[wheelgun28]

So if we have no need for new lead then why did the government waste probable millions of dollars studying this. Then write pages of new regulation that they knew would be unaffordable for the industry to meet.

If the market would have made the new industry non cost competitive, true market rules would have done the job for them. The taxpayers would have saved how many millions?

My guess is talking points, see we saved you from the nasty old lead, now children can sleep in their beds safely. Thank you dear leader, that you!

I am as far from knowledgeable on lead recycling but when the local scrap man pays $10.00 for a old car battery the components of it must be expensive. I do know that reclaiming battery lead is hazardous and produces nasty stuff, so it isn't cheap to do.

Just seems like more big government over reach and a waste of time and money. The hallmark of big government...

 

[poorbroker]

I have been to Doe Run and it is a shame the EPA is forcing them out of business. If you don't think it will affect our ecomony just price a new car battery... they have doubled (in price) in the last few years.

 

[Engineer1911]

All the lead you will ever need is available in the berm at you local range. Price is low, takes a little labor, and satisfaction is priceless.

 

[chief38]

All the lead you will ever need is available in the berm at you local range. Price is low, takes a little labor, and satisfaction is priceless.

Here in my neck of the woods we are not allowed to reclaim the lead at our Ranges for two basic reasons.

1) The Ranges don't wan't unprotected and untrained lead collection by Club members and shooters.

2) The Ranges and Clubs collect the lead themselves and sell it and help finance the Range, Club and or property.