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I read the article. This seems to be about a former lineman who had a high blood lead level in the 1980s, and also a study where line workers doing soldering we

I read the article. This seems to be about a former lineman who had a high blood lead level in the 1980s, and also a study where line workers doing soldering were found to have high lead levels in their blood. Reading this, my first and biggest question is : how did the lead get into their blood? Having spent ~20 years soldering in the electronics industry on a daily basis I had always assumed that lead isn't getting into your body unless you ingest it. There are ways to ingest lead that we know about : flaking lead paint becomes dust and can be breathed in; lead compounds from burned gasoline can be breathed in; lead in water that has traveled through lead pipes (and possibly copper pipes soldered with lead) can be drunk. But how do you ingest solid or liquid lead? Disappointing the article never addressed this. It seems the authors heard "worked with lead" and "lead in blood" and just said "yeah that seems obvious". Wouldn't we see very high levels of lead poisoning in plumbers? (before the move away from lead solder they were heating the stuff with a blowtorch, often in cramped unventilated conditions). Were studies done to eliminate the possibility that the people above ingested lead in some other way?

light_hue_1 3y ago
Lead solder turns into lead oxide fumes which get absorbed into your blood through your lungs. https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/guidance/leadpolicy/soldering https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/guidanc... Plumbers don't do much soldering and use very little solder when they do. And lead solder has been banned in any pipe that carries drinking water since the 80s.
- huthuthike 3y ago
  I think this is unlikely to happen at typical soldering temperatures. The lead vaporization point is over 3000 degrees F. https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf
  - Aurornis 3y ago
    You don't need to vaporize lead to form lead oxide. > https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf The first page of this link you shared mentions lead oxide: > During the soldering process in the form of lead filler metals, lead oxide fumes are formed and excessive exposure to lead oxide fumes can result in lead poisoning.
    - dboreham 3y ago
      It also says: "Because of the relatively low temperatures in electronic soldering, fumes from these metal constituents themselves are not normally a concern"
      - pessimizer 3y ago
        > are not normally a concern Seems like a squirrely way of saying that it might be dangerous, but nobody has been inclined to check.
- dboreham 3y ago
  > Plumbers don't do much soldering Today no. But in the past of course they did. Every house has 1/2" and 3/4" copper pipe with sweated solder joints. At least 10's of them in each house, if not 100 or more.
- dboreham 3y ago
  > lead oxide fumes which get absorbed into your blood through your lungs Ok, but if this happens wouldn't it be easy to run a study to show a correlation between working in solder-exposure occupations and accumulated blood lead level? There are millions of workers who would have been exposed in this way (e.g. me), not just a few folks working for big-bad-AT&T.
  - krisoft 3y ago
    > there are millions of workers who would have been exposed in this way (e.g. me) Good suggestion. Sounds like you can add a new data point. How are your blood lead levels?
- akira2501 3y ago
  > Plumbers don't do much soldering and use very little solder when they do. You can also use silver solder on copper.
laweijfmvo 3y ago
> I had always assumed that lead isn't getting into your body unless you ingest it. If this were true, would leaded gasoline have been an issue?
- algas 3y ago
  Leaded gasoline is an issue because it's a very bioavailable form of lead. It contains tetraeythyl lead, which is extremely volatile and likes to absorb into your cells. Solid lead, on the other hand, is much more inert. The main danger of working with elemental lead is breathing in dust if you're grinding it.

light_hue_1 3y ago

Lead solder turns into lead oxide fumes which get absorbed into your blood through your lungs. https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/guidance/leadpolicy/soldering https://warwick.ac.uk/services/healthsafetywellbeing/guidanc... Plumbers don't do much soldering and use very little solder when they do. And lead solder has been banned in any pipe that carries drinking water since the 80s.

huthuthike 3y ago
I think this is unlikely to happen at typical soldering temperatures. The lead vaporization point is over 3000 degrees F. https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf
- Aurornis 3y ago
  You don't need to vaporize lead to form lead oxide. > https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf https://ehs.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/EHS-0167.pdf The first page of this link you shared mentions lead oxide: > During the soldering process in the form of lead filler metals, lead oxide fumes are formed and excessive exposure to lead oxide fumes can result in lead poisoning.
  - dboreham 3y ago
    It also says: "Because of the relatively low temperatures in electronic soldering, fumes from these metal constituents themselves are not normally a concern"
    - pessimizer 3y ago
      > are not normally a concern Seems like a squirrely way of saying that it might be dangerous, but nobody has been inclined to check.
dboreham 3y ago
> Plumbers don't do much soldering Today no. But in the past of course they did. Every house has 1/2" and 3/4" copper pipe with sweated solder joints. At least 10's of them in each house, if not 100 or more.
dboreham 3y ago
> lead oxide fumes which get absorbed into your blood through your lungs Ok, but if this happens wouldn't it be easy to run a study to show a correlation between working in solder-exposure occupations and accumulated blood lead level? There are millions of workers who would have been exposed in this way (e.g. me), not just a few folks working for big-bad-AT&T.
- krisoft 3y ago
  > there are millions of workers who would have been exposed in this way (e.g. me) Good suggestion. Sounds like you can add a new data point. How are your blood lead levels?
akira2501 3y ago
> Plumbers don't do much soldering and use very little solder when they do. You can also use silver solder on copper.

laweijfmvo 3y ago

> I had always assumed that lead isn't getting into your body unless you ingest it. If this were true, would leaded gasoline have been an issue?

algas 3y ago
Leaded gasoline is an issue because it's a very bioavailable form of lead. It contains tetraeythyl lead, which is extremely volatile and likes to absorb into your cells. Solid lead, on the other hand, is much more inert. The main danger of working with elemental lead is breathing in dust if you're grinding it.