It is no wonder that there are so many skeptics about the health hazards of lead, decades of industry education taught us that lead was good for little Boys and Girls:
Even though experts were educating the public that lead was just wonderful for children to play with, lead was the first industrial toxin to have any industry regulations. Lead toxicity was recognized in this 1911 Industrial Labor standard.
Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, Issues 94-96 , pages 166 and 167
http://books.google.com/books?id=8c...EdbNWa60HEk481-PwNww&ci=48,61,857,1514&edge=0
I believe the greatest risk of lead ingestion/inhalation is from shooting cast bullets. This is from a 1970's study:
It used to the work force standard limit was 80 micrograms lead per cubic meter, it might be less now, and this study shows that each shot blows out 5643 micrgrams of lead into the air! Anyone who has been in the older indoor pistol ranges knows they had zero ventilation and you always left the range with the metallic taste in your mouth. One of these days I will post a picture of an indoor pistol range built in the 1970's. It is a totally enclosed area, all concrete block, with one door in the back to bring equipment in and out. No forced air ventilation at all. What a toxic waste site!
Even if you go with plated bullets, there is a significant amount of lead that comes from primers. The chart shows 403 micrograms
I make sure that I shoot in an area that is well ventilated. My lead levels spiked after being squadded on an out door range, but the firing point was enclosed with a wall behind, a connected roof, and side. Only the target side was open to the atmosphere. I am certain the whole area is covered with lead dust, and shooters at that location are in a fog of lead and powder particles during matches. The heck with that. Since that experience I have always requested to shoot on the side where there is no wall behind the shooters. The air flow is much better.
I wondered where lead accumulates in the body, and the deniers are going to ignore this:
Oregon Health Department:
https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/Healt...cuments/introhealtheffectsmedicalprovider.pdf
Lead in the Body
Lead is stored in the bone for decades, causing long-term internal exposure.
Lead enters the body primarily through inhalation and ingestion of lead containing dust. Once in the body, lead travels in the blood to soft tissues such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, brain, spleen, muscles, and heart. The body does not change lead into any other form. Once it is taken in and distributed to the organs, the lead that is not stored in the bones is eliminated slowly from the body by the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract; negligible amounts of lead are lost through perspiration. About 99% of the amount of lead taken into the body of an adult will leave in the waste within a couple of weeks, but only about 32% of the lead taken into the body of a child will leave in the waste. (Barry 1975)
The half-life of lead varies from about a month in blood, 1-1.5 months in soft tissue, and about 25-30 years in bone (ATSDR 2007). Lead in bone is considered a biomarker of cumulative exposure because lead accumulates in bone over the lifetime and most of the lead body burden resides in bone. Some of the lead can stay in the bones for decades; however, some lead can leave the bones and reenter the blood and organs under certain circumstances, for example, during pregnancy and periods of breast-feeding, after a bone is broken, and during advancing age.
So guys, inhale all that lead you love, and when you get old and break a leg, or a hip, you are going to have a massive lead release into your blood system.