> > I think maybe he was concerned about putting leaded solder in the
> > hands of a small child. I don't know enough about how easy it is to
> > absorb. I think it is not really a problem for an adult but it can be
> > very bad for a child whose brain is still developing.
> 
> Yeah; a lot of people who did it in the last generation ended up
> becoming engineers!
> 
> Children should learn to wash their hands after handling potentially
> dangerous materials.  I'm pretty sure that's MORE than sufficient to
> deal with the dangers of solder.  (There are people who claim that the
> lead scare in paints and such was much overblown.  After all, people
> were proposing that kids were eating lead paint to cause problems, at
> a time when every automobile was spewing burnt lead products into the
> air.)
> 
> BillW


It affects kids more than adults since they tend to smaller, chew on more
stuff, stick their hands in their mouth and aren't really keen on washing.
Lead needs to be ingested, handling solder then washing your hands solves
the problem.  Smokers have the problem where the lead transfers from hand to
cigarette to mouth, but if you smoke you've probably got other problems
anyway, that habit will kill you first.  Actually, lead poisoning tends not
to kill you but it isn't pleasant.  It doesn't help that you need a blood
test to detect poisoning, the symptoms are fairly vague.

When Australia switched to lead-free fuel it was thought that incidences of
lead poisoning would go down - they didn't.  A bit odd that.  Turns out it's
mainly from people renovating houses.  That paint you've been sanding down
goes everywhere, even a couple of kilometres away.  Gardens tend to have a
bit more lead than they should because of this.

Don't smoke, don't renovate, wash your hands.  Simple really.

Tony

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