[TheForge] lead residue (metal-related content)

[Bruce .]

Worthwhile info, esp. if you have kids:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/smelting-lead-contamination/index#sites/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-04-20/smelting-lead-contamination-soil-testing/54420418/1

Just be aware that lead paint, lead-based putty, solder, and
tetraethyl lead gasoline made lead far more prevalent in our soils
than these industrial sites indicate.

I sometimes wonder if the current wave of national stupidity can be
attributed to lead poisoning.  Progress, related to scientific
endeavor, has brought us a miraculous lifestyle, yet folks roundly
reject science.  Like:  pandemics wiped out about 95% of the
population of both North and South America shortly after Europeans
first arrived (which accounts for the incredibly low population
densities the settlers found), but "I'm not going to let them
vaccinate my baby because it might make him autistic."  (Never mind
that there's no evidence vaccination causes autism, but there is
evidence that maternal obesity does!)

I gotta get off this soapbox and do some work today.
-- 
Bruce
NJ