You are allowed to expose yourself to lead if you choose. I think most of us have, including me on numerous occasions. But after watching a friend's illness with lead poisoning from bead blasting aircraft cylinders IN a bead blasting cabinet, I don't work with lead anymore without adequate precautions. I would suggest you describe your operation to an Industrial Hygienist and ask for an opinion. You might be surprised at what they say.
I can tell you from work that I am required to take about the same precautions when casting, melting or forming Lead as when doing equivalent work with Uranium. Once you get a dose of lead poisoning, you end up doing Chelation Therapy for years to reduce the amount of the heavy metals in your system and get your head on straight again. The point of the post isn't that you can't melt lead and get away with it. The point is that lead is highly toxic and there are other ways to form your counterweights without exposing yourself to the potential of lead poisoning. Lead poisoning sneaks up on you first as memory loss or lack of ability to concentrate. It can be confused with symptoms of aging, so Drs don't typically test for lead poisoning unless you tell them you have had exposure. Chelation therapy can help you to slowly recover. But it's best not to put yourself into the position to need it. If one feels that they must melt lead, try to do so with good ventilation and take precautions to minimize exposure. What was an acceptable practice in the plans from 45 years ago has been demonstrated to be unnecessary, highly toxic, and a risk to your health. So why do so if you don't need to? -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM ------- Subject: Re: KR> Melting lead I have melted lead many times on the stove and I think all my brain cells remain intact. You're melting it, not boiling it, so the amount getting into the air is insignificant. Obviously don't ever use the pot again for food. A tin can sounds like a good idea. Mike Taglieri _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
