L is for Learn

This is the first of 4 stages of the lead framework.

Learn

Examine

Abate

Detox

you can go through to overcome lead, the risk, cost, threat and trauma associated with lead doesn't have to derail your life or rob your children of their full mental capability's.

Lead doesn't appear in your house by accident. It got there — and stayed — because of choices made long before you ever moved in.

Acknowledging this is the first step towards overcoming the challenge that it presents.

Here is some background, you may not be interested in- so click HERE to skip to the bottom to take a quiz that will tell you where you may need to look for lead ( if at all)

For millions of years, the Earth’s atmosphere contained almost no airborne lead.

The only lead got into the lead into the air was volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts. We know this from ice core data — layers of ancient ice collected in Greenland and Antarctica that preserve snapshots of Earth’s atmosphere over time 1.

When scientists analyze these ice layers, they find:

• Extremely low lead levels during pre-industrial times

• Three massive spikes in lead:

  • The Bronze Age (~3000 BCE)

  • The Roman Empire (~0–400 CE)

  • The Industrial Era, starting around 1750 and accelerating through the 20th century especially when lead was put into gasoline in 1923.

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  You can see the massive spike in lead starting in the 1920's

  
  

Each spike tells the story of human smelting, mining, and manufacturing.

Lead in the air is not natural. It’s historical — and modern exposure is preventable.

Smelting: Humanity’s First Mistake

Lead ore also known as galena or lead sulfide is mined from underground deposits. When smelted — heated to extract metal — it releases lead dust and fumes. These particles settle onto:

• Soil

• Waterways

• Nearby buildings

• Basically everywhere- they are even inhaled by people and animals.

For thousands of years, civilizations treated lead as a miracle metal:

• Soft, malleable and common it was one of the easiest metals to work with and finding it was not hard.

• Resistant to corrosion, Lead doesn't rust

• Cheap and abundant

But by the 20th century, its use exploded — and so did the damage.

How Lead Entered Your Life

Once smelted into metal, lead was added to almost everything:

Paint – to make colors vibrant and durable.

Pipes – because of lead’s flexibility and resistance to corrosion.

Gasoline – to reduce engine knocking.

Ceramics – in glazes and decorative coatings.

Toys & Products – including plastics, vinyl, solder, and pigments.

Cosmetics & Remedies – including traditional eyeliner and folk medicines

What is alarming is that we are still living in a time period where the majority of Americans had an elevated blood lead level during childhood.

Those same Americans have been in charge of "preventing" exposure, writing laws and regulations with full knowledge that they themselves and all their peers were exposed to much higher levels than what is common today.

The chronic dismissal of the threat of lead exposure is something that has undercut effective lead poisoning prevention policy.

Key Milestones in U.S. Lead Exposure

Year	Event	Why It Matters
1923	Tetraethyl lead added to gasoline	Millions of tons of airborne lead released globally 2
1978	Lead-based paint banned in U.S. housing	But 30+ million homes still contain it 3
1986	Lead pipes banned in new U.S. construction	Many older homes still use them today 4
1996	Leaded gas banned for on-road vehicles	But soil and dust remain contaminated
2008	Lead limits for children’s products lowered from 600 ppm to 90 ppm	Products made before 2008 may still be hazardous 5
2014	“Lead-free” definition updated to 0.25%	Prior “lead-free” plumbing could still be up to 8% lead by weight 4

What This Means For You

Paint

• Any home built before 1978 may contain lead paint.

• Risk is highest when paint is chipping, sanding, or turning to dust.

• HUD estimates:

  • 87% of homes built before 1940 have lead paint

  • 69% of homes built 1940–1959

  • 24% of homes built 1960–1977 3

Pipes

• Lead leaches into water — especially when water is acidic or sits overnight.

• Homes built before 1986 likely contain lead pipes or solder.

Soil

• Soil near roads, old homes, and urban centers often contains hundreds to thousands of ppm of lead — from paint chips, gasoline exhaust, and industrial fallout 6.

Consumer Products

• Anything made before 2008, even products for children may have lead on it, Consumer Product Safety Commission laws on lead didn't go into effect until 2008.

• Products from overseas may still contain lead even today, especially:

  • Ceramics

  • Spices

  • Makeup

  • Toys

  • Metal jewelry

What makes sense

Source	Risk Level	Still Common Today?
Lead Paint	Extremely High	Yes, in pre-1978 homes
Pipes/Solder	High (with leaching)	Yes, in older homes
Soil	High (ingestion/dust)	Yes, near roads & cities
Toys/Products	Moderate–High	Yes, in pre-2008 or imported
Spices	Moderate	Yes, in turmeric/chili/curry
Cosmetics	Moderate	Yes, in imported brands

I think by learning where lead came from and where it is now we can take the first step towards being lead safe and avoiding lead trauma.

Lead doesn’t move unless we move it. It doesn’t evaporate, it doesn’t break down, and it doesn’t go away. It simply sits — in your dust, your garden, your attic, your child's toy box — until someone tests for it and removes it.

You can’t act on what you don't know. But once you know — you can take control.

🔍 Up Next: E is for Examine – Finding the Lead

In the next section, we will go through:

• How to test your environment safely and affordably

• Where to focus first (paint, dust, dishes, soil)

• How to use FluoroSpec and other tools to get real answers

• Then learn what to do next if you find it.

📚 Sources

1. McConnell, J.R. et al. “Lead pollution recorded in Greenland ice indicates European emissions tracked plagues, wars, and imperial expansion over the past 2,000 years.” Nature Communications, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07480-2 ↩

2. U.S. EPA. “Regulatory Timeline for Lead in Gasoline.” https://www.epa.gov/history/epa-history-leaded-gasoline ↩

3. HUD. “National Survey of Lead and Allergens in Housing.” https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/NATLSURVEYLEADALLER.PDF ↩ ↩2

4. U.S. EPA. “Basic Information About Lead in Drinking Water.” https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water ↩ ↩2

5. CPSC. “Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) Summary.” https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Lead-Content-Limits ↩

6. U.S. EPA. “Protect Your Family from Exposures to Lead in Soil.” https://www.epa.gov/lead/protect-your-family-exposures-lead#soil ↩