Lead poisoning?

[broken_line]

I'm 18 just about to graduate.. Looking through all the 39 bags of shot that's been stuffed into shells here and there.. Well if I'm around that much lead in 9 months i began to wonder if I'm gonna have a special kid or end up with cancer later on.. I always was my hands after touching anything in the reloading room.. Should I Maby wear gloves when filling the 366 or the mec up?

 

[ScottieG59]

Well, washing hands is a good idea. Also, you should be in a well ventilated area.

I am in the habit of washing my hands after handling firearms too.

 

[JLDickmon]

nitrile gloves

 

[DMH]

Lead in your digestive track is a bad thing. Handling lead and touching your mouth you should avoid. This is a cause of lead poisoning. Touching and exposure to lead is minor compared to it entering the digestive system. Maybe someone can comment on air born lead particulates.

DMH

 

[Grumulkin]

Lead in your digestive track is a bad thing. Handling lead and touching your mouth you should avoid. This is a cause of lead poisoning. Touching and exposure to lead is minor compared to it entering the digestive system. Maybe someone can comment on air born lead particulates.

DMH

You aren't going to get significant airborne lead particulates from reloading but rather from shooting in a poorly ventilated area.

If you don't shoot in poorly ventilated areas, wash your hands after handling lead and don't put your fingers in your mouth after handling lead, you shouldn't be a candidate for lead poisoning.

 

[jcwit]

Elemental lead as in metallic lead is for all piratical purposes safe to handle, however it is a good idea to wash before eating, smoking, drinking, etc.

Lead compounds are the dangerous culprits. Lead residue from primers, lead oxides etc.

If you should swallow a chunk of lead it will pass right on thru as with most any other item.

 

[Steve C]

If you look at where most of the human lead poisoning was it was kids putting their mouth on lead painted surfaces and eating paint that was flaking off so lead was banned in paints years ago. I know that workers in indoor ranges get tested for lead and some get high lead levels as well as some shooters but since everyone with equal exposure to such ranges does not get the same level of lead in their body I would think a more likely cause is poor sanitation after handling or touching surfaces that collect fine particulate lead deposits then eating, drinking or smoking.

 

[Slamfire]

Advice you get on the internet is free and biased.

You will read all that time, testimonials that lead is perfectly safe, but these are people who are actually defending their risky practices. They don’t want to change and they don’t want to hear about increased risk.

I knew lots of smokers who acted the same way. They all died from cancer. One bud, who is still alive, he is down one lung, and still smoking. When he loses his second lung, it won't really matter what he believes.

Here are some links to contrary views. Decide for yourself.

LEAD POISONING – It can happen to you!

http://www.theppsc.org/Staff_Views/Heider/LeadHazards.htm

Lead Safety Or we have met the enemy, and he is us.
By: John Cox

http://www.lasc.us/LeadSafety.htm

RISKS OF LEAD POISONING IN FIREARMS INSTRUCTORS AND THEIR STUDENTS

http://www.utexas.edu/safety/ehs/msds/lead.html

 

[brickeyee]

Here are some links to contrary views. Decide for yourself.

Nothing new.

Metallic lead is not a significant hazard unless very finely divided.

Wash your hands after handling lead, and use indoor ranges with good ventilation.

There is even a medical study that purports to refute the 'lead bullets do not cause lead in the body' that surgeons have operated on for a very long time.

Of course when you actually look at the data presented in the study you can see that lead particles from a gunshot cause a small rise in blood lead levels (and more lead surface exposed causes a greater rise) the level then starts to decline as the surface of the lead is passivated by the body.

They also found the well known issue with lead bullets in synovial fluid (the fluid prevents passivation).

Wash your hands thoroughly, and do not smoke while handling lead.
The metal on you fingers can be transferred to a cigarette and then vaporized as you burn the dirty portion of the cigarette.

Do not use a flame to speed up lead melting.
The temperature is high enough to create significant lead vapor.

Keep the pot below around 750F.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm 18 just about to graduate.. Looking through all the 39 bags of shot that's been stuffed into shells here and there.. Well if I'm around that much lead in 9 months i began to wonder if I'm gonna have a special kid or end up with cancer later on.. I always was my hands after touching anything in the reloading room.. Should I Maby wear gloves when filling the 366 or the mec up?

If you're really worried about lead levels in your blood there's really only one way to know for sure. Don't guess, go to your doctor and have a blood test done. That is Internet advice you can bank on...

 

[ranger335v]

'Lead in your digestive track is a bad thing."

Maybe. Maybe not, depends on just what's "in your digestive track."

Solid lead is indigestable and will be passed out normally without harm. Particulate lead - fine stuff - can be absorbed in the digestive system but not through the skin. Ergo, don't handle lead and then lick the gray colored stuff off your fingers and all will be well.

 

[Slamfire]

There is even a medical study that purports to refute the 'lead bullets do not cause lead in the body' that surgeons have operated on for a very long time

That would be an interesting article, do you have a link to it?

When I searched for articles about lead poisoning from gun shots, I found all these references from medical journals.

Lead poisoning after gunshot wound

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31802000000300006

Lead poisoning is an unusual complication of gunshot wounds. The onset of symptoms can range from two days to 52 years after the incident.1 Since this is a fatal condition, making a timely diagnosis and starting chelation therapy early is vital.

http://journals.lww.com/smajournalo...0/Lead_Poisoning_from_a_Gunshot_Wound.17.aspx

Lead poisoning from retained lead foreign bodies has been commonly reported within the medical literature

http://www.vahealth.org/leadsafe/documents/11062006/Lead_Newsletter_Vol_2_Issue_1.pdf

Change in Blood Lead Concentration up to 1 Year after a Gunshot Wound with a Retained Bullet

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/159/7/683.full

The common belief that intraarticular bullets should not be removed has no benefit and may result in unwanted long term complications.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1752-1947/1/171

Lead Poisoning from an Intra-Articular Shotgun Pellet in the Knee Treated with Arthroscopic Extraction and Chelation Therapy. A Case Report

http://www.jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=23226

Systemic Lead Poisoning Due to an Intra-articular Bullet

http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=2933

Andrew Jackson suffered from lead poisoning

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/282/6/569.full

 

[au_prospector]

Ahh, the old lead question. Comes up time and time again. Lead will be dissolved by digestive acids, ask any chemist.

Pb + 2HCl --> PbCl2 + 2H2

Blood borne ionic lead metabolizes to organic lead in your liver which is fat soluble and can collect in the liver and brain which is why its bad for young children to be exposed.

If your worried, get a simple blood test. It will probably be normal, but get it just the same. It wont hurt and would be a good baseline.

 

[ranger335v]

"Lead will be dissolved by digestive acids, ask any chemist."

Yeah, a little, but not in the brief time required for it to pass completly through, ask any doctor.

 

[jcwit]

Advice you get on the internet is free and biased.

You will read all that time, testimonials that lead is perfectly safe, but these are people who are actually defending their risky practices. They don’t want to change and they don’t want to hear about increased risk.

I'm not defending anything, only relaying what I know from experience and believe. Twelve years ago I came down with Leukemia, was given a 20/30 perchance of survival, and I beat it. It had nothing to do with handling lead or effects of lead in any way.

I have cast 10's of thousands of bullets, possiable even 100's of thousands over the last 50 years. I have my blood tested 3 times every year for heavy metals and have done this for years and years. To this date I have very low levels as in numbers of 4 to 6, never got lower than 4.

This may or may not hold true for everyone, but the handling of elemental lead and using common sense as in washing hands etc., after handling. From my experience with other shooters the firing at indoor ranges without proper air exchange is one of the worse culprits.

BTW, I'm not biased either.

 

[jcwit]

If your worried, get a simple blood test. It will probably be normal, but get it just the same. It wont hurt and would be a good baseline.

This is very good advice, if for no other reason you have a baseline to go by.

 

[jcwit]

http://www.jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=23226

This example is in a joint where it "the lead pellet" is groung, thereby allowing it to be absorbed. A pellet and or bullet in mussel tissue is an entirely different animal.

 

[kelbro]

We were all born with an expiration date but lead poisoning is no way to go out. Use simple precautions and a little common sense.

Lead test at the Dr. is no worse than a PSA.

 

[broken_line]

ill probably head to the doctoer sooner than later.. how do they do a lead test? the main reason i want to know is i cut my finger pretty good and loaded around 500 shells took the band aid off and there was black residue under it im guessing from the graphite?

 

[jcwit]

They draw a vile or two of blood usually from your arm and test it. No big thing, when I was sick I had blood drawn every month for almost 2 years. Now its no worse than being bit by a mosquito.

 

[Slamfire]

You can search these forums and find testimonials from shooters whose lead levels went up to dangerous levels, and the most common theme is lots of rounds at indoor ranges.

In my town we have a good indoor range and the forced air flow is fast. Still, one of the workers there is a patient of my doctor. According to my doctor the range workers blood levels are “high”. Since this is personnel medical information the exact levels are none of my business, and, none of yours.

I have noticed a dust cloud coming out of my shot bags when I poured pellets out of them. I suspect it is lead dust. It would not be good to breathe that stuff.

 

[fpgt72]

If you are worried about it there is a pretty simple test your Dr. can do to check for it. Next time you are in ask him about it.

 

[brickeyee]

Intra-articular

means the lead is in a joint.

Synovial fluid in joints is well known to attack and dissolve lead (hyaluronic acid is the posited issue).

Metallic lead in other tissue is not a significant hazard unless it has a large surface area (like a bunch of small shotgun pellets or shards from a bullet).

Eating an occasional pellet is not going to do anything.
It will be out of the stomach (the ONLY place with HCl) in a matter of hours.

 

[au_prospector]

"Lead will be dissolved by digestive acids, ask any chemist."

Yeah, a little, but not in the brief time required for it to pass completly through, ask any doctor.

Someone had said something about swallowing a lead ingot. Remember lead WILL be dissolved by digestive acids and ionic lead will be absorbed into your blood via your GI tract. I would take no chances the ingot would pass on its own and seek medical attention immediately. Given the density of lead, it could easily get caught up in a fold of skin in your GI tract and stay there.

A neighbor's child swallowed a Lithium button battery and it did just that, got hung up and did not pass. I would not leave a situation like this go to chance especially with children.

 

[jcwit]

Someone had said something about swallowing a lead ingot. Remember lead WILL be dissolved by digestive acids and ionic lead will be absorbed into your blood via your GI tract. I would take no chances the ingot would pass on its own and seek medical attention immediately. Given the density of lead, it could easily get caught up in a fold of skin in your GI tract and stay there.

Could not find where anyone mentioned swallowing a lead ingot. Have you any idea how large the normal lead ingot is to most of us who cast lead bullets is? Ingots from my Lyman mold measure approx. 3 inches long by 1 1/2 inches wide, by 3/4 inches high. Believe me, that would be quite a mouthfull and something really exciting to pass, let alone the weight.