Regular or Unleaded?

[99 44/100% pure]

Hi fff, hope your abatement project is going well. I want to chime in on the chelation discussion, as I have had some experience with this. While chelation therapy is unproven and occasionally abused for treatment of a wide array of ills, it is well proven safe and effective for reducing levels of heavy metals in the bloodstream. This article has more info on how and why it works: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organiza.../chelation.htm.

The business about kids eating paint chips is a bit of a myth: yes, some kids eat paint chips (due to curiosity, or a condition called 'pica' (related to OCD) in which non-food is compulsively ingested), but the vast majority of kids who are lead-poisoned in older homes are inhaling large molecules of airborne lead which are leaching off the painted surface. Lead-based paints are highly unstable, with the surface coating constantly sloughing off, releasing ingestable/inhalable lead particles. These particles become airborne even if several layers of non-leaded paint has been applied over many years.

This is why the method of abatement you choose is very important. If you've got vast expanses of wall surface painted with lead-based paint, you're not going to be sanding or stripping; you'll be 'encapsulating' -- and not just with a few coats of paint. The most effective method is a new layer of drywall. Short of that, various sealants are known to be effective. If you choose to remove lead-based paint from a surface, be aware that heat guns actually release more inhalable lead particles than scraping, chemical peeling and even sanding.

As far as dismissing the medical effects of elevated lead levels; don't. I have been involved in enough cases to see that in houses (in formerly nice but now rundown neighborhoods in Baltimore) where one kid is in a room with lots of airborne lead (on deteriorated sills, for example) and another is in a room with little or no detectable lead, the first kid is likely to have elevated levels. Guess which kid is 'borderline-dull?'

The diet advice is not quackery or related to any preconceived notions the 'lead lady' may have had correlating poverty with poor diet; in fact, diets high in iron and calcium inhibit absorption of ingested lead, while fats increase dietary absorption. Here is a pretty good consumer-level article about lead poisoning: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/FL/00068.html

I wish you and your family the best, and urge your wife to get her levels tested, particularly if you are planning on having more kids -- the only effective way to reduce lead levels in bone marrow (where lead gets stored once the blood levels reach a certain point) is for a woman to get pregnant, and pass her bone-based lead to the fetus. Uggh.

Thanks for listening -- I needed something to do while occasionally checking the Electoral College tally. When I started this reply it was Bush: 254, Kerry: 227; now it's Bush: 254, Kerry: 252, and I may not have to move out of the country after all!