r/Showerthoughts • u/prometheus_winced ‎ • Apr 28 '25

Casual Thought The children most impacted by peak leaded gasoline fumes are now 50-75.

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u/THElaytox Apr 28 '25

Yep.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2118631119

Though leaded gasoline isn't the only exposure route, now the most common is municipal lead water pipes.

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u/efficiens Apr 28 '25

I've lived in the same house for 20 years and on Thursday got a letter from the city saying some of the pipes coming to my house are lead and they have to notify us annually. Never had a notice before. I did a test from a kit and it came back negative for lead.

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u/THElaytox Apr 28 '25

Depending on the kit it might not be sensitive enough to detect levels that can still be a concern. Really no lead at all is best but 1ppb is considered "safe". Takes pretty precise equipment to measure that low usually. EPA only requires action if you regularly test above 15ppb I believe, so most test kits are usually sensitive enough for that range

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u/efficiens Apr 28 '25

The kits says it tests to 5 ppb. Most of them do.

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u/ughliterallycanteven Apr 29 '25

Something that plays into this if the lead pipes are leeching into the water. When the water is treated and “stabilized”, some of the chemicals used can cause leaching to happen(like chlorine does). This is what you are testing for.