High Lead Levels

[THREEDFLYER]

Good to point this out Larry.....sorry to hear your levels are so darn high!!
I do a fair amount of reloading with lead bullets.....I will certainly wear gloves and maybe a good quality dust mask while handling the stuff!

I remember a good friend of mine back in Seattle that was our range master in the pistol range. It was a covered range with walls on 3 sides....his lead levels were through the roof and they told him he had to stay in the range master shack and avoid being out on the range during live fire as much as possible. The range got a good was down of walls, benches and ceilings once a month and I can tell you that the water run off was black from burnt powder, lead, etc.

I can only imagine what the EPA would have done if they caught that water running off of the property and leaching into the soil.

 

[carpriver]

The sportmans's club I belong to has an indoor range. last spring they installed 2 large air scrubbers. There are instructions on using them. 1-4 shooter you turn on the large fan and one scrubber, 5-10 the large fan and both scrubbers.when done shooting there is no dust down range.

 

[rwsmith]

Egg tempera and Casein...

Painters back in the times when lead was used as a pigment swore by egg whites or milk. Have no idea whether it worked but I know a couple of painters in their 80s who swore it did.

The is true. Egg tempera used yolks and casein used milk as a binder.

Even today painting can be hazardous because of some of the pigments and solvents used. It's easy for a painter to get lead or cadmium poisoning (which can be REALLY bad).

I think in the case of shooting, I'd wear gloves, reload fmj, plated or coated bullets and shoot outside whenever you can.

PS Definitely keep lead away from your MOUTH. Somewhere in your procedure there must be some places you can identify where you get the most exposure.

 

[jag312]

What is often prescribed is an FDA-approved treatment called "chelation" (key-LAY-shun) therapy. One of several drugs is introduced into the body. The drug binds with the lead, and is then excreted. Over time, this will lower lead levels to within normal limits. You should talk to your doctor about this.

Many years ago a chemist told me a very delicious way of lowering lead levels. Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) is a chelating agent. The Vitamin C will bind with the lead and it will be excreted through the urine. He suggested drinking copious amounts of orange juice plus taking Vitamin C tablets. My blood lead level was 17. The last time it was checked, the level was 0.1. I have to admit that I like orange juice, and I do like to eat oranges.

I am sure that the medical profession has techniques to remove lead more efficiently and quickly, but I'll bet their techniques are not as tasty.

 

[Ed Fowler]

Maybe have your water tested? Lots of lead water lines still in use.

An autopsy on my Labrador showed high lead level, sure enough the house pipes were all lead.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Annie Oakley died of lead poisoning.

 

[LostintheOzone]

GOOD NEWS, they posted my level on MY CHARTS and it's at 27.3 not 70. The girl must have read it wrong. Sorry for the panic, not my fault. Whew, I can live with this. Not good but not what I first heard. At least we're getting a review of lead. Larry

I think 50 is the cut off. You aren't in the danger zone. Ask your doctor about the cut off.

I had lead and mercury poisoning. I don't know where it came from. Lead from reloading/trap shooting and mercury from deep water fish I guess. I had chelation therapy for about 3 months and my levels dropped. I still shoot and reload but I take precautions. I shoot coated and FMJ now. I also shoot at an outdoor range.

 

[Whitwabit]

According to how and what measurement it is in whether it's good or bad ..

only a level of 0 in children is considered safe .. Hope you can find the cause and eliminate it from your life !!

 

[Bullseye 2620]

I think 50 is the cut off. You aren't in the danger zone. Ask your doctor about the cut off.

I had lead and mercury poisoning. I don't know where it came from. Lead from reloading/trap shooting and mercury from deep water fish I guess. I had chelation therapy for about 3 months and my levels dropped. I still shoot and reload but I take precautions. I shoot coated and FMJ now. I also shoot at an outdoor range.

It's 40 micrograms per deciliter (45mcg/dL). Above that level, treatment is required. Micrograms may also be denoted as µg

Here are the cut-offs used by the New York State Department of Health:

What Lead Levels are Considered Elevated in Adults?

At levels above 80 µg/dL, serious, permanent health damage may occur (extremely dangerous).

Between 40 and 80 µg/dL, serious health damage may be occuring, even if there are no symptoms (seriously elevated).

Between 25 and 40 µg/dL, regular exposure is occuring. There is some evidence of potential physiologic problems (elevated).

Between 10 and 25 µg/dL, lead is building up in the body and some exposure is occuring.

The typical level for U.S. adults is less than 10 µg/dL (mean = 3 µg/dL).

Others have commented above on the hygiene measures needed to avoid and reduce lead exposure (changing clothes, washing hands, etc.).

How serious is it? The Maryland Department of Occupational Health suspended a paid RO from his job because of his high lead levels (airborne particulate lead from an indoor range with decent ventilation).

The administration at MCB Quantico had to shut the indoor range where we used to shoot indoor 2700s because they couldn't reduce ambient lead levels. I don't know if they were ever able to get the problem solved and that range re-opened. I hope they did.

 

[BC38]

According to how and what measurement it is in whether it's good or bad ..

only a level of 0 in children is considered safe .. Hope you can find the cause and eliminate it from your life !!

I think you missed post 19 where the OP said the good news is that the 70 reading was a mistake - and his actual reading is only 27...

 

[Jebus35745]

We decided to check the water supply just to make sure. Lowe's and Home Depot give kits and check for free. Have to review what I'm doing and make changes shooting & reloading. Always washed my hands after both. The clubs range was rebuilt along with ventilation system. Will see if others at the club will get a blood test to see if the ventilation system isn't working.

We take vitamin C&D every day with fish oil. Gonna eat more foods known for lowering lead levels. Thanks for all the good advice in this thread.

Hopefully as everyone reads this post it will make us all safer as we enjoy our sport. Will report back when they draw blood at the end of December to see how much improvement there is.

I never believed I had a high lead level. GET A BLOOD TEST to see where your level is. I'm glad the doctor and I thought, what the heck, let's check it. Larry

 

[American1776]

We decided to check the water supply just to make sure. Lowe's and Home Depot give kits and check for free. Have to review what I'm doing and make changes shooting & reloading. Always washed my hands after both. The clubs range was rebuilt along with ventilation system. Will see if others at the club will get a blood test to see if the ventilation system isn't working.

We take vitamin C&D every day with fish oil. Gonna eat more foods known for lowering lead levels. Thanks for all the good advice in this thread.

Hopefully as everyone reads this post it will make us all safer as we enjoy our sport. Will report back when they draw blood at the end of December to see how much improvement there is.

I never believed I had a high lead level. GET A BLOOD TEST to see where your level is. I'm glad the doctor and I thought, what the heck, let's check it. Larry

You can get high dose vitamin C in a supplement called 'EmergenC'. It has 1,000 mg. of Vitamin C, which is the upper limit daily dose. I take one a day, along with a multi-vitamin and OJ.

 

[Warren Sear]

LEAD! LEAD! LEAD! GLOBAL WARMING! GLOBAL WARMING! GLOBAL WARMING!

Wash yer paws, use common sense, and you will be fine.

 

[chaparrito]

1000 mg is hardly an upper limit. I take 3 GRAMS a day, have for years

 

[woodsltc]

Most of the squirrels that naw on the bird feeders at my house seem to get sick and die from lead poisoning.

Don

 

[Nightowl]

My lead levels rose when I started using indoor ranges. It got near 30 about two years ago. I started taking 1000 mg of vitamin C and the led level has decreased significantly. I don't recall last year's test results, but had my blood drawn yesterday. Will report when results arrive.

I've reloaded for 50 years and never had an issue until I started using a very poor ventilating range.

 

[mtgianni]

I have been a bullet caster since 1993 and shoot a frequent amount of them along with sizing and lubing. The highest test I have had has been 3. I suspect an outside source.
Lead is found in nature everywhere.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

A few years ago, a co-worker nearly died of thallium poisoning(I'm a chemist) and as a precaution I asked my doctor to run a panel of basically every metal that I'd handled in the past couple of years.

The only one that came back as a little bit elevated was lead at 19 µg/dL. At the time I was shooting a lot at indoor ranges, so I laid off a bit and a few months later was in the 10 µg/dL range. I haven't worried about it since, although I think this is something that anyone who shoots should at least have in the back of their head.

I am very careful now about cleaning up, especially at the indoor range. I scrub my hands, arms, and face with De-lead soap followed by regular soap and water before leaving.

BTW, I reload and cast also. I do all my casting outdoors and stay as far away from the pot as I can. My biggest worry with reloading is the junk that falls out of the primer pocket when you decap a case, and I try to be smart about keep that dust cleaned up and under control. I also sonicate my brass before tumbling, which should(theoretically) keep any lead dust from inside the cartridges to a minimum.

 

[Warren Sear]

Annie Oakley died of lead poisoning.

So did Jesse James!

 

[Fishslayer]

I came back 20-something once. I was shooting indoors fairly often and was reloading a LOT and tumbling dirty brass in my garage a LOT. Lots of dust. I started soaking my brass in Lemi Shine before tumbling, tumbled outdoors and don't shoot as often.