Lead poisoning
Discussion
Turns you mad. Mad, I say, maaaaadddd...
It's one of the contributors to the fall of rome. All the 'important' people (i.e. rich people) had lead pipes for their drinking water, and the lead leached out and turned them mad. Initial symptoms are getting stupider over time, before maddness kicks in (think Nero)
It's why they banned tetra-ethyl lead in petrol as it was shown to reduce the IQ of children.
It's one of the contributors to the fall of rome. All the 'important' people (i.e. rich people) had lead pipes for their drinking water, and the lead leached out and turned them mad. Initial symptoms are getting stupider over time, before maddness kicks in (think Nero)
It's why they banned tetra-ethyl lead in petrol as it was shown to reduce the IQ of children.
timmy30 said:
...... oh and what are the symptoms of lead poisoning?
Depends on the dose:
Acute (short-term) poisoning, from a large dose, causes severe intestinal symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. Later, there are signs of damage to the nervous system, including convulsions, muscle weakness and coma. In severe cases, acute lead poisoning can be fatal.
Chronic (long-term) lead poisoning can cause gradual damage to brain function, with headache, loss of physical co-ordination, loss of intellectual ability and memory, and abnormal behaviour.
Chronic lead poisoning also causes:
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• A blue line on the gums
• Anaemia
• Nerve damage leading to foot-drop and wrist-drop.
The most important effect is the damage to the brain.
(google is a wonderful thing!)
Racylady said:
...... oh and what are the symptoms of lead poisoning?
Depends on the dose:
Acute (short-term) poisoning, from a large dose, causes severe intestinal symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. Later, there are signs of damage to the nervous system, including convulsions, muscle weakness and coma. In severe cases, acute lead poisoning can be fatal.
Chronic (long-term) lead poisoning can cause gradual damage to brain function, with headache, loss of physical co-ordination, loss of intellectual ability and memory, and abnormal behaviour.
I get the same symptoms when I'm pissed, and been for a curry...
timmy30 said:
[quote=jimothy]Initial symptoms are getting stupider over time, before maddness kicks in (think Nero)
quote]
So how do I tell that I'm getting stupider? And I was always a bit mad anyway.
If you make a horse a senator then play the fiddle whilst your city burns, then it's fairly safe to assume you're in need of a nice new jacket with arms-behind-the-back motif and 10 rolls of rubber wallpaper...
jimothy said:
Turns you mad. Mad, I say, maaaaadddd...
It's one of the contributors to the fall of rome. All the 'important' people (i.e. rich people) had lead pipes for their drinking water, and the lead leached out and turned them mad. Initial symptoms are getting stupider over time, before maddness kicks in (think Nero)
It's why they banned tetra-ethyl lead in petrol as it was shown to reduce the IQ of children.
Worse than that, they used to boil up wine to make a sweet syrupy stuff called sapa. Unfortunately for them they boiled it up in lead pans. This gave them a hugely increased dose of lead acetate, which while it gave the potion a sweet taste, it also turned them bonkers.
Cyberhuss said:
Shit that sounds bad Racylady..
Some karate kid stabbed me with a pencil when i was little i still have the lead in my arm =/
I was shot in the ar*e by a .22 pellet as a kid and had to tell the MRI people about it before I had a scan as it can cause nasty localised burning due to the metal.
>> Edited by scared but happy on Monday 15th August 14:26
Lead intake from drinking water pipes is still with us today as many towns still have lead water mains. Its effect is about the same as that of lead intake from exhaust fumes, ie. insignificant. TEL went out of petrol because it is not compatible with catalytic converters; the lead poisoning thing was just emotional propaganda.
Where the Romans went wrong was in un-souring soured wine by boiling it in lead vessels. Souring of wine is caused by oxidation of the alcohol to acetic acid, which reacts with lead to give lead acetate, aka. "sugar of lead", which tastes sweet.
Where the Romans went wrong was in un-souring soured wine by boiling it in lead vessels. Souring of wine is caused by oxidation of the alcohol to acetic acid, which reacts with lead to give lead acetate, aka. "sugar of lead", which tastes sweet.
Okay okay so lead poisoning is a bad thing......but can you get it from drinking whisky out of a lead decanter?
Am I slowly poisoning myself to death and getting madder than a box of ferrets without realising it?
Will they find me gibbering in my airing cupboard, with a cucumber stuffed up my bum, listening to a Chaz and Dave album?
Am I slowly poisoning myself to death and getting madder than a box of ferrets without realising it?
Will they find me gibbering in my airing cupboard, with a cucumber stuffed up my bum, listening to a Chaz and Dave album?
wedg1e said:
Shit that sounds bad Racylady..
Some karate kid stabbed me with a pencil when i was little i still have the lead in my arm =/
It's unlikely to be lead, it's probably graphite...
I got stabbed as well. As wedg1e says it's not lead but graphite and it's probably not actually still there, it's just given you a small tattoo which makes an interesting talking point....
Cyberhuss said:
Shit that sounds bad Racylady..
Some karate kid stabbed me with a pencil when i was little i still have the lead in my arm =/
Thats not lead its carbon, can you imagine how heavy the pencil would be if it had lead in it?
Also the lead in petrol tended to just fall down and pollute the road when it comes from a car exhaust. Unleaded petrol is far more toxic to people once the cat convertor goes (which is does on most older high milage cars or those who have 'decatted' their exhaust system. The main worry about lead in the air came from industry pumping out tons of the stuff and some enviromentalist complainers put this together with some dumb kids in a school nearby and decided that was a good excuse to ban everything.
Oh bugger 
That's the nightly whisky out for me.
name said:
Does glass or crystal ware contain lead?
A. Ordinary glassware does not contain lead, but lead is used to make the more expensive lead crystal. People who have lead crystal items should take the following precautions:
Do not store liquids in lead crystal glasses or bottles.
Do not drink from lead crystal on a daily basis, especially if you are pregnant.
Do not feed an infant or child from a lead crystal baby bottle or cup.
That's the nightly whisky out for me.
I'm a bit sceptical about this (if for no other reason than if it was dangerous it wouldn't be sold!)
Remember that chemical elements have very different properties when they are compounded with another. Table salt is sodium (a volatile metal that catches fire in water) and chlorine (used as a poison gas in WW1 and dissolves in your lungs to make hydrochloric and hypochlorous acid).
But they still sell salt.
Remember that chemical elements have very different properties when they are compounded with another. Table salt is sodium (a volatile metal that catches fire in water) and chlorine (used as a poison gas in WW1 and dissolves in your lungs to make hydrochloric and hypochlorous acid).
But they still sell salt.
Pigeon said:
Lead intake from drinking water pipes is still with us today as many towns still have lead water mains. Its effect is about the same as that of lead intake from exhaust fumes, ie. insignificant. TEL went out of petrol because it is not compatible with catalytic converters; the lead poisoning thing was just emotional propaganda.
Where the Romans went wrong was in un-souring soured wine by boiling it in lead vessels. Souring of wine is caused by oxidation of the alcohol to acetic acid, which reacts with lead to give lead acetate, aka. "sugar of lead", which tastes sweet.
The Romans also made drinking vessels and plates and even utensils out of lead, which caused lead poisoning.
Interesting side note - If you buy "pewter" drinking vessels today, make sure that they are made in Britain, or are marked lead-free or marked Britannia Metal as the UK is the only country that has lead free pewter standards.
ErnestM
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