#lead

[everlastingrandom]

U.S. people, if you bought cinnamon from Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or other discount stores, throw it out. It's got lead

#lead poisoning #psa #fda warning #food warning #food contamination #lead #cinnamon

[somberous]

Mary Oliver, from “Lead.” [ID in alt text]

#mary oliver #mary oliver: new and selected poems vol. ii #lead #*** #poetry

[aistobascistod]

Hoard : Place to keep all your hydrogen :: Cupboard : Place to keep all your copper & lead

#copper #lead

[reasonsforhope]

"Lead is a neurotoxin; it causes premature deaths and lifelong negative effects. It’s said “there is no safe level of lead exposure” — as far as we know, any lead causes damage, and it just gets worse the more exposure there is.

After a 20-year, worldwide campaign, in 2021 Algeria became the final country to end leaded gasoline in cars — something the US phased out in 1996. That should make a huge difference to environmental lead levels. But lots of sources remain, from car batteries to ceramics...

Bangladesh phased out leaded gasoline in the 1990s. But high blood lead levels have remained. Why? When researchers Stephen Luby and Jenny Forsyth, doing work in rural Bangladesh, tried to isolate the source, it turned out to be a surprising one: lead-adulterated turmeric.

Turmeric, a spice in common use for cooking in South Asia and beyond, is yellow, and adding a pigment made of lead chromate makes for bright, vibrant colors — and better sales. Buyers of the adulterated turmeric were slowly being poisoned...

But there’s also good news: A recent paper studying lead in turmeric in Bangladesh found that researchers and the Bangladeshi government appear to have driven lead out of the turmeric business in Bangladesh.

How Bangladesh got serious about lead poisoning

The researchers who’d isolated turmeric as the primary cause of high blood lead levels —working for the nonprofit International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh — went to meet with government officials. They collected samples nationwide and published a 2019 follow-up paper on the extent of the problem. Bangladesh’s Food Safety Authority got involved.

They settled on a two-part approach, starting with an education campaign to warn people about the dangers of lead. Once people had been warned that lead adulteration was illegal, they followed up with raids to analyze turmeric and fine sellers who were selling adulterated products.

They posted tens of thousands of fliers informing people about the risks of lead. They got coverage in the news. And then they swept through the markets with X-ray fluorescence analyzers, which detect lead. They seized contaminated products and fined sellers.

According to the study released earlier this month, this worked spectacularly well. “The proportion of market turmeric samples containing detectable lead decreased from 47 percent pre-intervention in 2019 to 0 percent in 2021,” the study found. And the vanishing of lead from turmeric had an immediate and dramatic effect on blood lead levels in the affected populations, too: “Blood lead levels dropped a median of 30 percent.”

The researchers who helped make that result happen are gearing up for similar campaigns in other areas where spices are adulterated.

The power of problem-solving

...When the Food Safety Authority showed up at the market and started issuing fines for lead adulteration, it stopped being a savvy business move to add lead. Purchasers who were accustomed to unnatural lead-colored turmeric learned how to recognize non-adulterated turmeric. And so lead went from ubiquitous to nearly nonexistent in the space of just a few years.

That’s a better world for everyone, from turmeric wholesalers to vulnerable kids — all purchased at a shockingly low price. The paper published this month concludes, “with credible information, appropriate technology, and good enough governance, the adulteration of spices can be stopped.”

There’s still a lot more to be done. India, like Bangladesh, has widespread adulteration of turmeric. And safety testing will have to remain vigilant to prevent lead in Bangladesh from creeping back into the spice supply.

But for all those caveats, it’s rare to see such fast, decisive action on a major health problem — and impressive to see it immediately rewarded with such a dramatic improvement in blood lead levels and health outcomes. It’s a reminder that things can change, and can change very quickly, as long as people care, and as long as they act."

-via Vox, September 20, 2023

#lead #lead poisoning #turmeric #bangladesh #south asian food #south asia #public health #public safety #government #good news #hope

[mapsontheweb]

Lead pollution in Greenland ice shows rise and fall of ancient European civilizations.

#maps #greenland #pollution #lead #correlation

[its-where-the-wild-things-are]

#pencil #lead #draw

[chernobog13]

Doc Magnus and the Metal Men by Walt Simonson.

#Metal Men #Platinum #Doctor Will Magnus #Iron #Mercury #Gold #Tin #Lead #DC Comics #Walt Simonson

[389]

3D Maps Reveal a Lead-Laced Ocean

About 1000 meters down in a remote part of the Atlantic Ocean sits an unusual legacy of humanity’s love affair with the automobile. It’s a huge mass of seawater infused with traces of the toxic metal lead, a pollutant once widely emitted by cars burning leaded gasoline.

#map #3d #maps #3d maps #ocean #lead #seawater #water #gasoline #pollution #u

[mindblowingscience]

About two-thirds of children younger than 6 years old in Chicago are exposed to lead in their drinking water, according to researchers at Stanford Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers developed artificial-intelligence models that made citywide estimates of the number of children under 6 living in homes with lead-contaminated drinking water. They also used simulation models to estimate the increase in the children’s blood lead levels from drinking that water. The findings were extrapolated from census data and 38,385 household lead tests collected from 2016 to 2023.

Continue Reading.

#Science #Health #Epidemiology #Children #Water #Lead #Lead Poisoning #United States of America #USA

[facts-i-just-made-up]

When is lead? What year was lead?

Lead was discovered in Rome in the year 82. Because Latin for "Eighty-Two" is "Plumbum," they called it "The Eighty-Second Substance," or in Latin, "Plumbumbundumum," which is what we call it commonly in English to this day. Scientists, being lazy and bad at speaking, shortened it to the initials PB, which are also my Uncle's initials, but he is not related to Lead.

Lead is very heavy, having an undisclosed number of neutrons, nutrients, protons, and proteins in it. It is also very poisonous, as only one ton of it can poison anyone who eats it whole. Smaller amounts can also be toxic, and can turn your bones teal. This is why Lead is commonly nicknamed "The Metal That Can Turn Your Bones Teal." This name also lead scientists to assume that Lead may been a metal, but there is no way for us to be certain so they may have also been mislead. "Mis-Lead" is the 83rd element, but that's none of our bismuth.

Pencils are said to contain Lead, but this is not true, nor was it ever true as "pencil lead" was simply slang for graphite, even well before the pencil was invented. Had it not been called "pencil lead," its use for writing may never have been discovered by the inventor of the pencil, Jacques Pencille, who was also notable for having invented the first playing cards, the first sofa, and the first baby-meat-grinder, which is thankfully just a scary misnomer as it does not grind up baby meat, but rather it kills the baby with several knives and needles. And that's the history of Lead.

#lead #bismuth #science #elements #unreality

[shiftythrifting]

Lawnmower Man figurines made from actual real lead. Toy manufacturers just gave no shits before they were forced to, huh?

#shiftythrifting #thrifting #shiftylisting #Figurines #Lead #Admin mcnerd's finds #lawnmower man

[thingstrumperssay]

This guy is complaining that Biden wants to take our lead water drinking rights away.

My god, Biden really could just say "breathing is good for you" and republicans would hold their breath out of spite.

#lead #lead pipes #joe biden #water #kris w. kobach

[not-a-bot-1234]

I’m passing chemistry, but at what cost?

#chemistry #lead #pb #why would my brain think that #passing chem #but at what cost #sandwich #peanut butter sandwich #why peanut butter and sugar?

[magicbunnystar]

N A T U R E....?

(a Alternative ver of the nature drawing i did last year)

#incredibox #incredibox dystopia #lead #art #fanart #procreate #illustration

[apas-95]

On the subject of gun use - lead exposure and contamination are extremely underdiscussed, despite their importance.

When it comes to lead exposure from guns, it's down to ammunition. Bullets will generally be made from lead or a lead alloy, and will release lead particles when striking a surface. Primers will often contain lead styphnate, and release lead fumes and particulate during combustion. Surfaces in areas where guns are fired, like ranges, will accumulate lead particles; handling ammunition will transfer lead particles to the hands; and lead particulate will be deposited on the surroundings and inhaled when firing a gun. Lead particulate will remain airborne for a long time, and will deposit onto clothing, exposed skin, hair, and objects. Lead deposited onto the hands will be ingested when eating, drinking, or smoking. Once ingested, lead will remain in soft tissue, like the liver and brain, and become stored in bones and teeth. Long-term lead exposure can cause a number of physical illnesses, alongside cognitive impairment and anger issues. Lead exposure is especially harmful to small animals, such as pets, who can be exposed through contaminated clothing and objects.

Avoiding lead contamination is, evidently, important. The most simple measures are handwashing and isolating contaminated objects. Carrying out a proper handscrub, and never eating with bare hands at a shooting range or while shooting - using a wrapper as a barrier, for example - can help deal with lead contamination immensely, and can be aided by wearing shooting gloves. When returning home from a range or after shooting, clothes should be taken off and washed separately, and you should immediately bathe thoroughly. Bringing a change of clothes with you, to change into before returning home, can reduce some of the lead you'll be exposing your living spaces to, and, especially if you live with small animals, it's important to clean off surfaces that contaminated objects have come into contact with, as animals will tend to lick their paws and thereby ingest lead. LeadOff and D-Lead wipes will bond to lead particulate, and can be used to clean surfaces and skin after lead exposure, alongside deleading soaps which can be especially useful for cleaning the body. Wearing a respirator, or even a facemask, while shooting can reduce lead inhalation, which is an especially potent source of lead exposure. Shooting outdoors and attending outdoor ranges can also reduce lead exposure in the first place.

Using guns requires responsibility, not just for safe handling of the gun during its use, but for long-term safety as well. Lead contamination doesn't just harm yourself, it harms those close to you. At the very least, I believe we can all see the problem in those spending the most time around guns inevitably developing psychological irritability and mood disorders.

#guns #gun #lead

[materialsscienceandengineering]

As any percussionist or fidgety pen-tapper can tell you, different materials make different noises when you hit them. Researchers at Drexel University hope this foundational acoustic phenomenon could be the key to the speedy removal of lead water lines that have been poisoning water supplies throughout the country for decades. A recent study conducted with geotechnical engineering consultant Seaflower Consulting Services, showed that it is possible to discern a buried pipe's composition by striking it and monitoring the sound waves that reach the surface. This method could guide water utility companies before they break ground to remove lead service lines. In the aftermath of the 2014 water crisis in Flint, Michigan, many utility companies have been diligently working to verify the materials of their service lines. These efforts have become increasingly urgent in the last two years due to the Biden Administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Environmental Protection Agency's Lead Service Line Replacement Accelerators initiative mandating the removal of all lead pipes, serving an estimated 9.2 million American households -- putting utilities on the clock to finish the job by 2033.

Read more.

#Materials Science #Science #Acoustics #Lead #Toxicity #Clean water #Ultrasound #Drexel University