California Classifies Lead "Hazardous Material"

[DA Aquamaster]

If you haven't noticed people are dying of cancer and other carcinogen related things more and more. The birth rate of children with autism has risen sharply. More kids are diagnosed with ADD and other life challenging issues these days, than in the past.

I used to be a child protection social worker and I could pretty much bet that every time I removed a child from their home and placed them in foster care, I would get two calls within the first week - one from the foster parents and one from the child's teacher insisting we get the kid in for an appt with the doctor to get him or her on Ritalin for ADHD. As a psychologist, it was obvious the kid did not just spontaneously develop ADHD but instead had a perfectly normal adjustment issue due to being placed in foster care and usually in a new school.

The average GP however, talks to the foster parent hears a few sysmptoms and diagnoses the child with ADHD and places them on Ritalin, and in effect establishes them as a child with ADHD. Now, a psychiatirist or psychologist would actually know and follow the DSM-IV-TR criteria and look for the requisite number of symptoms, but also pay attention to the duration of the symptoms (at least 6 months) and rule out more likely explanations of the behaviors (such as adjustment issues due to being removed from home and placed in a foster home). You have no idea how much pressure there is to just medicate kids rather than actually deal with the issues. Pills are simple, raising kids is more complicated.

If you look at Japan, ADHD is treated as a behavioral condition. It is screened for in kindergarten and resolved with behavioral intervention. In the US on the other hand, we diagnose the hell out of it and consume 95% of the world's pruduction of Ritalin and Stratera. I doubt our lead levels are any higher in the US than in Japan nor are they causative for ADHD.

In that same vein, I see the same thing occuring with Autism diagnosis in children. Any psychiatric disorder is a matter of degree from normal to pathological. But the autism crowd has done really well as they now have an Autism spectrum disorder, where you can diagnose a child with autism spectrum disorder just for having a symptom or two that would be, and should be, considered to be within the normal range of human behavior. But it is popular and it is so much easier if I can diagnose my kid with Autism and medicate them, or just blame their unruly or sometimes just odd behavior on autism rather than poor parenting or just having a kid that is slightly different.

So please, don't give me that ADHD/Autism crap. Rates are up because it is popular to diagnose and it has some secondary gain for parents in some situations.

Again, we are a society seeking the feel good solutions while ignoring the real issues. If someone objects and points out the ineffectiveness of a law, they get shouted down with an argument along the lines of "something is better than nothing".

The thing is that this is not the case. We all "feel good" about banning lead weights, but we will continue to import chinese products that may well be coated in lead based paint and we don't think twice about living downwind from a coal fired power plant spewing lead and other heavy metals into the atmosphere in much more dangerous gaseous form. But public attention is diverted away from the tough issues as we already have an "easy" fix for the problem.

If you really want to reduce the amount of lead in the environment, that's great, but actually do something about the real causes and stop picking on insignificant things like lead wheel weights.

 

[Gilldiver]

Chrome doesn't turn your hands black when you touch it, either. Lead does.

Never had the problem with solid weights. Now soft/shot weights are always having the oxide abraded off which is what you are seeing as "Black." By the way, any metal in fine enough form will look black.

I am right now working to close and clean up a lead foundry that was used to make sheet metal forming tools. Now here you have some people with real lead problems.

 

[captain]

DA Aquamaster, one of the few voices of reason in the scubaboard wasteland.

 

[paddler3d]

Well, I'd like to hear from someone what actual legislation California passed in reference to lead reduction.

This was the only thing I found: CA Codes (hsc:116875-116880)

It makes no reference to tire weights! It is a simple tightening down on plumbing codes.

 

[Belmont]

Copper pipes soldered with lead, as was customary until not long ago, could release the metal in drinking water. For this to happen the water has to have an acidic Ph that would prevent the formation of a coating inside the pipes. If your house plumbing meets these criteria it would be advisable to have your drinking water tested.

This goes also for older constructions where lead pipes were used.

Here all the schools were checked 20 years ago.

 

[PRL]

Not saying right or wrong. But we as a society do waste a lot of lead. Even a simple thing like tire balancing. Many tire installers don't realize that tires have balance marks. When I was turning wrenches in my previous life, I found wheels that had at least 1/2 oz to much lead just because the tire was mounted improperly. Also lost weights were usually due to improperly installed weights.
Lead will erode, and wash into the ground water in time, but imho its nothing compared to the release of lead vapors when lead products are made. I know that I wouldn't want to live next to a factory that makes lead products.

 

[captain]

Copper pipes soldered with lead, as was customary until not long ago, could release the metal in drinking water. For this to happen the water has to have an acidic Ph that would prevent the formation of a coating inside the pipes. If your house plumbing meets these criteria it would be advisable to have your drinking water tested.

This goes also for older constructions where lead pipes were used.

Here all the schools were checked 20 years ago.

The I have been using water from the lead soldered pipes in my home since 1974, so far no second head growing from my neck.

 

[fstbttms]

The I have been using water from the lead soldered pipes in my home since 1974, so far no second head growing from my neck.

You've probably been smoking longer than that and you ain't dead yet. Doesn't mean it's good for you.

 

[Texfrazer]

Well, I'd like to hear from someone what actual legislation California passed in reference to lead reduction.

This was the only thing I found: CA Codes (hsc:116875-116880)

It makes no reference to tire weights! It is a simple tightening down on plumbing codes.

With CA law, the actual law doesn't have to reference anything in order for it to be applicable. Ask anyone over there about Prop 65 signage. All of that stems from a clean drinking water law, but anything and everything that could cause cancer has to have a public sign (and this includes such things as cooking meat, serving alcohol, allowing smoking, etc.). At least the sign-makers are doing well.

 

[paddler3d]

With CA law, the actual law doesn't have to reference anything in order for it to be applicable. Ask anyone over there about Prop 65 signage. All of that stems from a clean drinking water law, but anything and everything that could cause cancer has to have a public sign (and this includes such things as cooking meat, serving alcohol, allowing smoking, etc.). At least the sign-makers are doing well.

Let me get this straight here...

Due to Proposition 65, Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, tire installers a no longer allowed to use lead weights to balance vehicle tires, because the may fall off a wheel, get degraded somehow, and get washed into a drinking water supply. This is so because in Dec. 2009, Lead, and a variety of lead compounds, were added to the big list.

Does that about sum it up?

Seeing as how potable water is going to be harder to come buy in the future, I find it hard not to follow their logic. This coming from a State that has a lot of current water needs and challenges.