Has anyone else had issues with elevated lead in their body?
Have you gotten tested?
Do you test regularly?
Why did you get tested in the first place?
Yes, Yes and No.
When I was conducting a lot of lead pistol loads shooting at indoor range, I was concerned due to the THR lead poisoning thread with CDC study that showed elevated lead levels from shooting at indoor ranges -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ealth-information.307170/page-10#post-9544358
At first getting tested was out of curiosity but when the result came back 8 and rose to 12, my doctor was required to contact the Public Health department and put me on monitoring while we identified sources of lead intake and lower level back to normal.
(FYI, most likely source of lead intake is lead dust inhaled from spent primers shot out of muzzle or hovering around spent brass. So shooting downwind outdoors/in ventilated indoor range and taking proper precaution when collecting/handling spent brass especially after dry tumbling, are crucial and
3M respirators are affordable and cheap insurance to have in your range bag/brass sorting/processing station.
)
It turned out handling and reloading lead alloy bullets (Mostly from MBC) was not the primary cause nor dietary source (Canned non-US seafood products like smoked oysters, sardines, etc.) rather inhaling lead dust/fumes while I collected spent brass from the indoor range floor (Which BTW had nice industrial ventilation system that felt like shooting in a hurricane) with to a lesser degree, sorting and dry tumbling spent brass.
When I stopped shooting at indoor range and sorted/processed spent brass outdoors wearing 3M respirator but kept all the other lead alloy bullet reloading process the same, my blood lead level returned to normal and hasn't increased since now that I do all of my shooting outdoors at our retirement location (BLM land) and my doctor agrees that I no longer need to be tested for lead levels -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ealth-information.307170/page-12#post-9625420
I have collected several hundred pounds of lead/alloy for casting bullets and fishing weights for retirement and plan on observing proper ventilation precautions to prevent/minimize lead fume intake and not worried about lead level increase.