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Does anyone know how the lead in paint gets into a person's bloodstream? Is it by "eating paint chips" as the old joke goes? Or does the paint eventually flake

Does anyone know how the lead in paint gets into a person's bloodstream? Is it by "eating paint chips" as the old joke goes? Or does the paint eventually flake microscopically and end up in food and on eating surfaces or something?

OneOneOneOne 11y ago
I think it is through inhalation and ingestion. Children at at greatest risk. Even dust caused by renovation puts children at risk.
Gibbon1 11y ago
Yes. Literally eating paint chips from pealing paint, windows and moldings are usually the most common sources. Toddlers and young children are both the most susceptible and the most likely to be exposed. I helped a friend fix up a half remodeled POS house he bought where the previous owner was sloppy and his two year old son developed severe lead poisoning. Lead is insidious. Usually in the environment it gets sequestered as the phosphate or sulfate. Except when it doesn't. The bio-availability of lead phosphate/sulfate is low. However lead paint uses lead-oxide which is highly available. I think lead-oxide was used for oil based paints because it's pure white, highly opaque, and catalyses polymerization. It's almost perfect except that it's poison. Oh yeah lead/tin solder is wonderful to work with. makes sad face
- sitkack 11y ago
  Lead paint also tastes sweet. Wall Candy.
alwaysAttending 11y ago
Lead paint itself flakes. One of the reasons it was used is because it is "self cleaning" in that the dirty top layer eventually sheds off. The most common way lead gets in your blood stream from lead paint is actually usually dust from flaking paint, chipping, sanding, etc. Even these dust level amounts will spike a toddler's blood lead levels because they absorb it much more readily, thinking it is iron or calcium. If you are iron-deficient you wind up absorbing lead as much as seven times more readily!

OneOneOneOne 11y ago

I think it is through inhalation and ingestion. Children at at greatest risk. Even dust caused by renovation puts children at risk.

Gibbon1 11y ago

Yes. Literally eating paint chips from pealing paint, windows and moldings are usually the most common sources. Toddlers and young children are both the most susceptible and the most likely to be exposed. I helped a friend fix up a half remodeled POS house he bought where the previous owner was sloppy and his two year old son developed severe lead poisoning. Lead is insidious. Usually in the environment it gets sequestered as the phosphate or sulfate. Except when it doesn't. The bio-availability of lead phosphate/sulfate is low. However lead paint uses lead-oxide which is highly available. I think lead-oxide was used for oil based paints because it's pure white, highly opaque, and catalyses polymerization. It's almost perfect except that it's poison. Oh yeah lead/tin solder is wonderful to work with. makes sad face

sitkack 11y ago
Lead paint also tastes sweet. Wall Candy.

alwaysAttending 11y ago

Lead paint itself flakes. One of the reasons it was used is because it is "self cleaning" in that the dirty top layer eventually sheds off. The most common way lead gets in your blood stream from lead paint is actually usually dust from flaking paint, chipping, sanding, etc. Even these dust level amounts will spike a toddler's blood lead levels because they absorb it much more readily, thinking it is iron or calcium. If you are iron-deficient you wind up absorbing lead as much as seven times more readily!