are you worried about getting cancer from shooting, cleaning guns, reloading?

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I believe car pollution and the chemical filled/unhealthy foods most people eat now, are more more likely to give you cancer than shooting, unless you're melting lead on your kitchen stove or something...
 
Nope.

Now I don't take silly risks, but I'm not going to live in fear that I'll drop over dead because I've got a little lead in my system. If you're concerned, get checked. Lead shows up in blood samples and can be treated if you're in any danger.

The dangers of lead poisoning are real, but so are the dangers of traffic, lightning strike, drowning and spontaneous human combustion. Okay, so I'm not sure about that last one. Take reasonable precaution in all areas, use more caution and/or preventive measures if you feel they are warranted. I just don't tend to get overly excited about the latest thing that's supposed to kil me.
 
I think the lead settles in my butt. My wife keeps saying: "Will you get the lead out of your..."

Seriously, I've used the behind the ear patch for motion-sickness and found it to be extremely effective. In fact nothing else has worked as well. It works on the principle that our skin is just one big sponge.

Since then, I've bought a big ole barrel of latex gloves that I wear when dealing with solvents. Anything that can disolve lead and copper can't be too good to be running through your blood stream and giving your liver a work-out. If I'm going to tax my liver, I think it sould be done with some good mind-blowing form of alcohol from Kentucky or Tennessee.
 
Since we don't really understand what really triggers cancer or how it works exactly, there's no way to answer your question.

Do what you enjoy doing and cross bridges when you get to them.
 
Do a google search on Toms River, NJ. The place is still VERY inhabited, even with MTBE in the water and an astronomical cancer rate.

A firearm hobby should be the least of your worries. I'm more concerned about what's in my drinking water.
 
I live in a city, I drink more than I should, and I love bacon cheeseburgers. Is my life expectancy shorter than it could be due to my lifestyle? You bet. Do I regret it? Nope. :)
 
Lead over-exposure is most likely to show up in cumulative brain or nerve damage (rather than cancer) anyway; if you're worried about it, you can have a simple blood test done. The last lead test I had showed my level was high enough that it would be a concern if I was a woman who was pregnant or trying to get pregnant, but that's all.
 
are you worried about getting cancer from shooting, cleaning guns, reloading?
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After 69 years of chewing on lead paint as a baby, playing with lead toys, drinking water from lead pipes, shooting lead bullets in poorly ventulated ranges, 40 years of casting lead bullets and fifty years of shooting and cleaning guns, No I'm not worried.

If even half the BS that the government puts out was factual there would be no old shooters alive today.:rolleyes:
 
i get blood work done pretty regular at the doctor so i guess they would tell me.
 
...fifty years of shooting and cleaning guns, No I'm not worried
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See!!! that just shows the amount of damage already done to the brain. What me worry? :what:

Hey no offense, you know I'm just kidding. I just couldn't pass up an opening like that.:) It gave me a good chuckle - at least I still laugh at my own jokes.
 
I shoot in well ventilated facilities and I use Nitrile gloves when handling cleaning solutions.

I'm neither worried nor ambivalent. I exercise safety in shooting and handling my firearms so I might as well do the same with cleaning them.
 
I grew up eating small game full of lead shot.
I shoot a lot.
I reload.
I pour my own bullets from melted wheel weights.
I handled buckets of ammo in the military.
I had a job back in college gathering the spent lead from an indor range.
My girlfriend is a doc. She keeps track of this stuff and lead doesn't even register above normal in my blood.

No worries.
 
No. I should wear nitrile gloves when I clean guns but I never have. I just wash up really well afterward. And I don't eat when I'm shooting; I often have a water bottle with me but keep it covered up to prevent spent gunpowder, dirt, whatever, from getting on it.

I'm pretty picky about what I buy at the grocery store...we eat organic veggies mostly, free-range natural beef and chicken, and organic milk. But that stuff goes in every single day. If I cleaned guns every single day, I'd be more worried, I suppose.

No worries, at least not about that.

Springmom
 
Pulled from an FAQ on the OHSA site:

Will lead cause cancer?

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that the evidence for carcinogenicity of inorganic lead compounds to humans is inadequate and have classified these compounds as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). A comprehensive review of more than twenty human studies involving workers exposed to inorganic lead compounds in battery industries, smelters, pigment factories, printing trades and the glass manufacturing industry concluded that there was a significant excess risk of overall cancer (stomach, lung, and bladder cancers), but not cancer of the kidney. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has designated elemental lead as an A3 carcinogen (confirmed animal carcinogen with unknown relevance to humans).

If you're worried about lead causing cancer, then you also better not live in a city, drive a car, eat anything that is not organic, paint anything, or turn on a lightbulb. Good luck. ;)
 
I don't worry if I will get cancer, cause I already got it! And I haven't even started reloading yet. (I'm waiting on my reloading kit to get here now.)
Heck, even though I have cancer, I don't worry about it. :D The Lord is in charge and I'll go when ever He says it is time. Anybody you want me to say hello to if I get there before you do?
 
I can also "catch" cancer from my cell phone and have a dozen other things. I just enjoy life and try to reasonably cautious. I wash my hands after shooting and reloading. I do not eat when I shoot or reload either. Put on my seat belt when driving and ear plugs when shooting etc.

Some people can take the safety/health thing too far. I have a neighbor that wears a dust mask, ear plugs, and safety glasses while mowing. The only thing he does not use is a NBC warfare suit with attached gas mask. That is too much. It is pretty funny though. If I weed eat grass I wear glasses etc.

Just think before you do something.
 
Princi

...fifty years of shooting and cleaning guns, No I'm not worried

See!!! that just shows the amount of damage already done to the brain. What me worry?

Hey no offense, you know I'm just kidding. I just couldn't pass up an opening like that. It gave me a good chuckle - at least I still laugh at my own jokes.
Click to expand...

It could be that the people of my generation would have been a lot smarter and healthier except we grew up with all that lead and asbestos all around us.:D
 
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