Lead levels ams shooting ranges.

[mfolch]

A new study saying it's pretty dangerous.

"The kind of blood-lead levels found among shooters can lead to essential tremor, hypertension, cardiovascular-related mortality, electrocardiography abnormalities, decreased kidney function, psychiatric effects, decreased hearing, decreased cognitive function, decreased fertility, incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, adverse sperm parameters, increased spontaneous abortion, and reduced fetal growth in children."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170405101950.htm

 

[Jskaanland]

This article is cherry picking data from the original work. Lead exposure at firing ranges—a review | Environmental Health | Full Text

Look at the chart of relation to a shooting range vs lead levels. Also look at the country and date of the studies. There is data showing someone practicing Archery in South Africa will have higher rates of lead in their system than Adult Target Shooters - Both Occupational & Non-Occupational in New York... While I agree it's wise to minimize exposure, good hygiene and common sense will go a long way. I was an RO at a local outdoor range. I always encouraged people to wash their hands before leaving. When I was volunteering I would shower and wash all my clothes as soon as I got home. It should be a personal thing, not a government mandate to ban lead bullets.

 

[Billinsd]

I hear another shoe dropping!!! I believe all lead will soon be outlawed because it is "bad". I'd give it another 5 or 10 years. Under Trump it will take a lot longer.

 

[MuleyFever]

Lead is bad. Its bad for anyone and anything that is exposed to it. I agree that it is on its way out. Maybe not during this administration but it is going to happen.

 

[elkyinzer]

Lead and coal...two materials our grandchildren will know little about. No conspiracies, there are mountains of accumulating facts. Kind of like how coca-cola used to have cocaine. Times change, things evolve.

 

[jmez]

That isn't a study, that is a review article, big difference. Not saying lead isn't dangerous but review articles are pretty much worthless from a scientific point of view.

 

[ChrisS]

Lead is relatively immobile unless it's made mobile through dissolution in water (low pH) and ingested or made very very small - like when bullets fragment on impact.

The EPA's blood-lead model is pretty conservative, but 10 micrograms per deciliter is considered the concentration where significant health effects can occur.

EPA's risk assessment for lead is unique because a reference dose (RfD) value for lead is not available. An RfD is typically derived from a concentration below which no adverse effects have been observed. Existing evidence indicates that adverse health effects occur even at very low exposures to lead (e.g., subtle neurological effects in children have been observed at low doses).

The goal should be to minimize contact with lead whenever possible, which will happen over time. Subtle negative effects are tough characterize, but there are a lot of studies that correlate lead concentrations in blood with negative healthy issues.

 

[Ray]

Lead is relatively immobile unless it's made mobile through dissolution in water (low pH) and ingested or made very very small - like when bullets fragment on impact.

The EPA's blood-lead model is pretty conservative, but 10 micrograms per deciliter is considered the concentration where significant health effects can occur.

The goal should be to minimize contact with lead whenever possible, which will happen over time. Subtle negative effects are tough characterize, but there are a lot of studies that correlate lead concentrations in blood with negative healthy issues.

There are some other recent studies that show there to be a measurable reduction in cognitive abilities at 5 microg/dL. Kind of eye opening.

 

[Billinsd]

Lead and coal...two materials our grandchildren will know little about. No conspiracies, there are mountains of accumulating facts. Kind of like how coca-cola used to have cocaine. Times change, things evolve.

Another thing our Grandchildren will inherite is unsustainable debt and few ways to keep warm, and feed themselves. Coal and lead are not bad, I was being sarcastic. We can't all live off sunshine alone.

 

[Billinsd]

There are some other recent studies that show there to be a measurable reduction in cognitive abilities at 5 microg/dL. Kind of eye opening.

Whenever technology developes a way to measure something in a smaller concentration the government thinks that anything above that amount is bad. Take methane, which farts have. I worked on a sewer pump station and there was a meter 100 yards downwind that could measure a fraction of a fart. And that meter better never go off, God forbid that a sewer pump station emit a fraction of a fart that can be measured downwind 100 yards away!!! The rub, is this costs tax payers millions. Everything has gotten out of cobtrol.

 

[Billinsd]

That isn't a study, that is a review article, big difference. Not saying lead isn't dangerous but review articles are pretty much worthless from a scientific point of view.

It depends on the study, who did it and critical review.

 

[Billinsd]

While I agree it's wise to minimize exposure, good hygiene and common sense will go a long way. I was an RO at a local outdoor range. I always encouraged people to wash their hands before leaving. When I was volunteering I would shower and wash all my clothes as soon as I got home. It should be a personal thing, not a government mandate to ban lead bullets.

Amen brother!!

 

[ckleeves]

I'm in ranges over 200 days a year working on them. Some are new construction but most have plenty of lead in them. I have to get lead baseline blood test yearly at a minimum. I have never had a test come back above average in 10 years.