Lead Paint

Just a tad paranoid there, aren't you? Chronic acute lead poisoning has been alleged to induce dementia (more in a moment); chronic low-level lead poisoning has been shown in studies of elementary school children to result in significantly lower academic performance. Lead paint was outlawed because children and animals may injest the paint when it flakes off the painted surface; additionally, infants in cribs and playpens may chew and suck on the paint.

The Franklin expedition to find a Northwest passage was locked into the pack ice in the Artic Ocean of northern Canada in 1847. The expedition had left England with three years worth of supplies. Many of those supplies were canned goods sealed with lead solder. Sir John Franklin was an experienced navigator and explorer, and much was expected from his voyage. His ships, Erebus and Terror had been well fitted to withstand the rigors of the voyage. After Franklin died on shipboard, the surviving members of the expedition tried to make it overland to Montréal--and this despite the fact that York Factory on Hudson's bay was nearer by 1500 miles. They started off overland, dragging ship's boats behind them. They took along crystal, china and silver flatware, they took lace curtains from the main cabins of the ships, they took changes of personal linen. In short, they didn't act very sensibly. The theory was advanced that they were suffering from the effects of chronic acute lead poisoning. In 1982 (i believe, that year or thereabout), a Canadian expedition disinterred the bodies of three members of the expedition who had died and were buried on Prince Rupert's Land, the burial being recorded in Franklin's logs, which survived the failed escape attempt. They performed an autopsy on the remains of a young Royal Marine, and found the unmistakable evidence of chronic acute lead poisoning. Had those who remained after Franklin's death awaited the break-up of the pack ice, they could have sailed on to the outpost of Coppermine. Had they steered a course to the Hudson's Bay Company post at York Factory when they actually did abandon their ships, they could easily have reached that post, even dragging along all of the useless impedimentia. They simply were not in their right minds. The clue which was followed by the Canadian researchers was the manifest for the canned goods which were purchased for the expedition.

Within the last ten years, excavations were carried out on the Little Big Horn battlefield, looking for the remains of troopers who were cut off from Custer, and who rode to join Major Reno's portion of the regiment, which survived the battle. The Seventh Cavalry also were using canned goods in cans sealed with lead solder--and the remains of troopers found on the battlefield were studied before being re-interred at the battlefield cemetery. They also showed the signs of chronic acute lead poisoning. When Custer made his decision to ride down the valley and attack the Indians, he had with him a little more than half the regiment, which was then understrength. He had about 260 troopers with him. He sent a note to Captain Benteen, commanding the pack trains with rations and ammunition to order him forward. His note read to the effect that he had the hostiles on the run and their "village" was in sight. The hostiles which he claimed he had on the run numbered in the thousands; the village to which he referred contained more than a thousand temporary shelters--not the assessment of a sane man. For whatever reason, neither Major Reno nor Captain Benteen were as unhinged, and they instead made a defensive position on a "knob," a round-topped hill near the head of the valley, and held out for three days until the Indians grew tired of the sport, and moved on.

Both the fate of the Franklin expedition and the evidence from Custer's battle strongly suggest that dementia from chronic acute lead poisoning has a rapid onset, and profound effects. Your surmise about government surveillance is amusing, however.

I understand but just because some people did not feed their children, is no reason that I should die of cancer, by the way all tooth paste was put into lead containers when I used tooth paste, now I use hydrogen peroxide, salt and soda. I am pushing 70 and not one cavity my whole life.

Which has what to do with lead paint?

Tinfoil. It works in hats, doesn't it?

Good point, Roger. My only problem is, that i never wear hats.

Bottom line is yes lead in food is bad, but lead on your home could save one from cancer, and when weighting the benefits to society as a whole yes it would lower the cancer rate. As for as the kids are concerned a kid with enough minerals in thier diet are not apt to chew erevything in sight. In horses it is known as kribbing when they chew up their stalls, so a good owner gives them minerals.

Set., your point that lead, and lead paint in particular, is dangerous, is a given, but several points about your thesis should be considered. Lead definitely was a contributing factor to the demise of the Franklin Expedition, but isolation in the artic in winter can cause its own problems irrespective of the presences of lead. The behavior of the expedition after Franklins death seems as much panic and disorientation as it does dementia.
As for Custer he was subject to several kinds of lead poisoning, but I doubt his canned good can explain his actions. First Custer had an overweening ego and political ambitions, and 1876 was a presidential election year. In that regard it should be kept in mind that he had disobeyed orders to wait for General Cook's infantry and had charged ahead to gain the glory for himself. Secondly Custer had the standard military contempt for untrained opponents. He was assuming that a small but well trained and well handled, mounted force with the element of surprise could panic and scatter an untrained "rabble". What he had not taken into account was 1) the Indians were not all that surprised. 2) they were mad-as-hell, (which counts for something), and 3) he was facing leaders (Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse) with a tactical competence at least equal to his own.

Well, Acq, i would point out that the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company survived literally hundreds of such winters without resort to the futile and eventually fatal gestures of the members of the Franklin expedition. I would also point out that Custer, for all his ego and ambition, was at other times a competent military commander at the level of regimental command, with long experience. I continue to consider chronic acute lead poisoning as the decisive factor, as in both cases, it is the only distinguishing factor between those incidents and other similar incidents in which those concerned did not show a marked lack of judgment. Don't even get me started on the use of soft lead in the pipes of Roman aquaducts.

Set, yes the Hudson Bay employees survived many winters in the artic, but they had a core of experienced personnel and leadership, a fixed base of operation (others knew where they were), a well-established supply infrastructure, and good relations with the local natives. The Franklin Expedition was isolated, no one, as far as they knew, was aware of their position, and had inexperience leadership after the death of Franklin. They had no knowledge of or relations with, and possibly the 19th century Englishman's contempt of, the local natives. As far as I know, no contingency plans were in place for the rescue of the expedition should it get into trouble. That is the Hudson Bay Company had not been informed to be on the lookout for them, and they were not informed of the possible ways in which the Hudson Bay Company could help. Lastly, the taking of china and linen looks to me to be as much the actions of frightened men clinging to familiar things as it does dementia, both fear and lead can induce irrational decision making. Lead was obviously a contributing factor but I am distrustful of single cause explanations for events like the Franklin disaster. When things go wrong, in situations like that which the Franklin Expedition found themselves in, they tend to go wrong globally unless there is strong levelheaded leadership to keep things in hand.
As for Custer, I have always thought his military competence was over rated. He was after all a general in what Civil War historian Bruce Catton has called some of the worst led cavalry in military history.

I have not advanced a single cause thesis, Acq. I consider it the crucial contributing factor. The attempt to reach Montréal alone casts serious doubt on the mental balance of the officers who made such a decision. As for Monroe, Michigan's favorite son, i have elsewhere in these fora given my opinion of the "un-wisdom" of breveting a boy in his twenties with limited combat experience to Brigadier and then Major General. You might note that i rated him as competent at the regimental level, and his previous performance under Sheridan on the plains suggests that he was competent at that level. All other things being equal, i consider chronic acute lead poisoning to be the crucial contributing factor, not the sole factor.

Chronic, low level lead poisoning is not just due to children chewing on objects, though I dispute your argument that children have to be hungry to put things in their mouths. The dust from the paint ends up everywhere and eventually finds its way into food and on hands and so into little mouths. The impact on brain development is severe. I can't see any reason to expose people to such risks.

You don't need lead paint to protect you from the rays of the sun. Remember that a decent knit shirt protects you well enough (as vividly shown by my "farmer's tan".) The materials in your house offer plenty of protection.

My cousin had lead poisioning as a toddler and is now the size of a 10 year old instead of a 14 year old. It stunts your growth. Lead is bad.

Have YOU tried to get a little kid to eat all the necessary minerals and vitamins they need? Not to mention, that isn't the only reason kids chew on/eat things they shouldn't.

Yep. I'd say it's probably one of the least likely reasons, with teething being one of the most likely.

Kids can be perfectly well-fed and still gnaw on everything within reach.

lead Oxide in paint has its own enticements for kids. It is SWEET. The problems with windows and shelving in houses that were painted with lead color-tint enamels was that the kids, liking the taste, would teeth on the sills. This would give them , because of their teeny sizes, a body burden of lead that can quickly get into the chronic and often acute toxicity levels. You can rent XRF (xray-flourescence spectrophotometers) at many paint or rental stores. They are easy to use and, can easily detect lead levelsin PPM levels. The environmental standards under HUD, OSHA, were all derived from EPA testing done almost since that agency was conceived and delivered. We have lead and copper rules for soldering of water pipes (a really dangerous condition if you have acidic water), and the lead rules for housing is just like any other "self policing" rule ()asbestos, radon , bacteria, stachybotrus molds etc)
You can believe and follow (the real danger is to kids.Adult people would have to ingest lead almost as part of their diets.

It must be said that The Franklin expedition has been an example of forensic evidence taken to its conclusion . It seems that the cans for acid foods as well as non acid, were soldered with a tin/lead amalgum. If the pH of the canned food was below 5.5, the amalgum would ionize and "buffer" the acidic solution (like tomatoes or anything packed in vinegar brines) The food stuffs found in caches was tested and lead levels in the 100 to 1000 ppms were found. Adjusting for chemical erosion it was safe to state that Franklins men were exposed to lead body burdens that could have made them become symptomatic.
As far as Custer, all I know is that Custers grave at West Point has bveen forensically studied by some anthropologists who had waaay too much time on their hands. They found that Custers grave was composed of Parts of 3 different individuals who died at Little Big... . None of whom were Custer.They were all enlisted men of Custers command who, in their final acts , were found reasonably guilty of impersonating an officer
All these come from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences from an assemblage of "occasional" papers submitted to the members of "The Last Word Society".

PS, toothpaste tubes were oiginally made of TIN, not lead

Titanium oxide has replaced lead oxide as the pigment in white and pastel paint. Neither is effective in shielding from cancer causing cosmic nor gamma rays, nor microwaves, nor survailence in the millimeter thickness of 6 coats of paint. Electrically grounded aluminum siding or stucco mess would do all three better than lead paint, but moderate quantities of radiation would still penetrate the house. If you can receive radio or TV signals even poorly inside a structure, you are unsafe from survailence, not that I think spying on average citizens is common.
Nearly all kinds of material protect you from ultraviolet rays which cause skin cancer in naked skin. Neil

Ti based paints wont yellow with age. The prep of TiO2 is a messy process however. It involves huge amounts of fuming sulfuric acid reacting on a "roasted" Iron or Manganese Ti trioxide ore.
If one paints ones house with consideration to radiation protection, maybe color choice is not your biggest problem.

Hehe, that's some informative content there, people. I was just completing a project concerning lead based paints, and wanted to thank you for your help.

Okay, seanson, here's another tidbit. Machinists used to routinely use a white lead carbonate as a cutting fluid. It produced a great finish. Hastalloy and the more corrosion resistant of the Huntington alloys did best with a mixture of conventional cutting oil and 1,1,2 trimethylchloride.