Man kan forgiftes av bly fra både vann, luft og fast stoff. Bly er giftig for alle men aller mest for barn fordi det fører til betydelig, permanent redusert IQ. Vi snakker 5 til 10 poeng. Nok til å ta en person fra smart til ikke smart. Bly lagres i hjerne og ben (knokler). Forhøyet blodverdi betyr egentlig akutt forgiftning. Kvinner som opplever osteoporose etter overgangsalderen frigjør ofte bly fra knoklene og man får en blyforgiftning på kjøpet.
Bunker Hill gruvebrann 1973
Oppdatering 2. sept 2023. Sept. 3, 1973, a fire swept through the baghouse of the Bunker Hill mine in Idaho’s Silver Valley. The building was designed to filter pollutants produced by smelting, the melting of rocks that separates metal from its ore. The gases produced in this process carried poisons, including lead. At the time, the prices of lead and silver were climbing toward all-time highs. Rather than wait for new filters and repairs, company officials kept the mine running. They increased production, bypassed the filtration steps and for eleven months, dumped noxious gases directly into the surrounding area. Then, horses in the area began dying. When data on children’s blood lead levels began to arrive in September 1974, one year after the fire, the results were shocking. The fire became one of the largest single lead poisoning events in U.S. history. Without filters, the mine operations deposited an estimated 35 tons of lead per month in the area, four times more than before the fire. Between January and September 1974, it also released more than 2 tons of arsenic and 2.5 tons of mercury, among other metals and toxic chemicals, according to data collected by Restoration Partnership. Lead still contaminates the soil across Silver Valley today, and it continues to wash down tributaries and into the Coeur d’Alene River and Lake Coeur d’Alene. Many people in this fastgrowing region are unaware of the risks.
Children are especially susceptible to lead’s toxic effect on the central nervous system; they absorb it up to 17 times more readily than adults, and their brains are still developing. The children of the Silver Valley were exposed to extremely high levels of poisons after the Baghouse Fire at the Bunker Hill mine. 99% of children within a mile of the smelter who were tested after the fire, 173 out of 175 kids, had blood lead levels of 40 micrograms per deciliter or higher. Their average blood lead level was 67.4 micrograms per deciliter. A 1-year-old tested at 164 micrograms per deciliter, the highest ever recorded in a child. Cognitive impairment in children, as measured by loss of IQ points, can occur at levels of less than 5 micrograms per deciliter. Michael C. Mix describes in “Leaded: The Poisoning of Idaho’s Silver Valley” how the politically powerful company that owned the mine also suppressed and distorted health findings.
Our bodies use metals like zinc, iron and calcium. However, we have zero need for lead. Its chemical composition makes it both highly toxic and able to infiltrate almost every organ in the body. Lead exposure can cause high blood pressure and cardiac disease. It can also cause problems with brain development, kidney function and reproductive health, including miscarriages, prematurity and low birth weight.
To put the Silver Valley numbers into context, the average blood lead level for children in Flint, Michigan, at the height of the lead-pipe water crisis in 2015 was 1.3 micrograms per deciliter, and 21 children had blood lead levels over 10 micrograms per deciliter. It is difficult to assess the extent of the damage from the Baghouse Fire in the children of the Silver Valley. Doctors in the 1970s weren’t able to test for cognitive and neurologic problems in the most vulnerable children, from birth to 3 years old. Blood lead levels in children in the area remained higher than 40 micrograms per deciliter into 1980. Children and pregnant women are the most vulnerable. Lead crosses the placenta, and it is present in breast milk. Major outreach efforts are underway to educate those living, working or visiting the area.
Blyholdig bensin 1920-1996
I bilens barndom på 1920 tallet ønsket man å redusere dunkelyder fra motoren ved å tilsette kjemikalier i bensinen. Man hadde flere alternativer. Blant annet ethanol, som gir ufarlig avgass. Av kommersielle hensyn valgte man en blytilsetning. Med den følge at menneskene fikk i seg bly via pusten. En av de største miljø og helseskandaler i nyere tid. Og fullstendig unødvendig da det var et ufarlig alternativ tilgjengelig. Et eksempel på kynisme. Hvordan kunne myndigheter gå med på dette? Korrupsjon? I Norge ble blyholdig bensin forbudt i 1996. På 70 tallet var bruken på topp. Jeg er født i 1972.
Bly i drikkevann
Rom
De gamle romerne hadde et avansert rørsystem for vann. For at rørene skulle være formbare ble de tilsatt bly. Noe som førte til at beboerne ble forgiftet. Vissnok en medvirkende årsak til at den romerske sivilisasjonen forsvant.
Flint i Michigan 2014
Byen Flint skulle i 2013 spare penger ved å bytte vannkilde. De byttet fra nabobyens Detroits system til Flint River, en elv som går tvers igjennom Flint. Vannrørene her var gamle og hadde bly i seg. Byen behandlet ikke vannet med stoffer som gjør at rørene ikke lekker bly. Vannet ble blyforgiftet.
Noen hovedpunkter Flint tidslinje (NPR – National Public Radio). May 2014: Residents Complain about smell and color of water. August: E. coli And Total Coliform Bacteria Detected. The city addressed the problem by increasing chlorine levels in the water. Oct. 13: General Motors stop using Flint River water, fearing corrosion in its machines. “Because of all the metal. You don’t want the higher chlorine water (to result in) corrosion,” GM spokesman Tom Wickham tells MLive. “We noticed it some time ago (and) the discussions have been going on for some time.” Jan. 2, 2015: Disinfection Byproducts Detected, trihalomethanes TTHM, possibly carcinogenic. Byproducts that occur when chlorine interacts with organic matter in the water. Feb. 25: Tests Show High Lead Levels In Home. Michigan Radio reported the water at Lee Anne Walters home “turns up with a lead content of 104 parts per billion. Fifteen parts per billion is the [Environmental Protection Agency]’s limit for lead in drinking water.” In April, Walters says her child was diagnosed with lead poisoning. An independent test done by Virginia Tech researchers finds lead levels at 13,200 ppb. Water is considered hazardous waste at 5,000 ppb.
Wikipedia. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, state-appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley changed Flints water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River) to the Flint River. Residents complained about taste, smell, appearance of the water. Officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water, which resulted in lead from aging pipes leaching into the water supply, exposing around 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels. Scientific studies confirmed that lead contamination was present in the water supply. The city switched back to the Detroit water system on Oct 16, 2015. It signed a 30 year contract Nov 22 2017 with the new Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).
Flint Water Crisis Caused By Interrupted Corrosion Control: Investigating Ground Zero. One popular strategy is dosing orthophosphate (PO4-3) inhibitors to promote formation of insoluble corrosion scales on pipe walls that reduce lead release.
Wikipedia. The nature of the corrosive inhibitor depends on (i) the material being protected, which are most commonly metal objects, and (ii) on the corrosive agent(s) to be neutralized. The corrosive agents are generally oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Oxygen is generally removed by reductive inhibitors such as amines and hydrazines: O2 + N2O4 –> 2H2O + N2 In this example, hydrazine converts oxygen, a common corrosive agent, to water. Related inhibitors of oxygen corrosion are hexamine, phenylenediamine, and dimethylethanolamine, and their derivatives. Antioxidants such as sulfite and ascorbic acid (vitc) are sometimes used. Some corrosion inhibitors form a passivating coating on the surface by chemisorption. Benzotriazole is one such species used to protect copper. For lubrication, zinc dithiophosphates are common. They deposit sulfide on surfaces. The suitability of any given chemical for a task depends on many factors, including operating temperature.
Blystøv
Notre Dame brannen 2019
Se egen bloggartikkel om kjemikalieutslipp for mer om Notre Dame brannen.
Zambia by med blyverk
A Kabwe, Zambia lead smelter (NPR) closed in 1994. For nearly 100 years, smoke from the smelter had been releasing heavy metals, including lead, in the form of dust. Children have grown up playing in that dust, inhaling it — and being poisoned by it. In 2016 The World Bank lent the Zambian government $65.5 million for a five-year project to clean up lead-contaminated areas
and treat the people affected by lead poisoning. How are the people of Kabwe faring 2 1/2 years later (2019)? To identify children with abnormally high lead levels, CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) uses a reference
level of 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. A deciliter is a metric measure equal to about one-tenth of a quart. The lowest blood level in the children measured in Kabwe was 13.6 micrograms per deciliter; the average was 48.3; and the highest couldn’t be measured because more than 25% of the children had levels higher than the 65 micrograms per deciliter the instruments could measure.
Blyammunisjon
Jegere insisterer på å bruke blyammunisjon istedenfor stål.
Blybekkene
Oppdatering 4. september 2021. Blybekkene i Bærums marka. Vann rundt skytebaner er ofte forurenset med bly fra ammunisjonen. Turfolk tenker det er greit å drikke fra bekkene. De aner ikke at vannet kommer fra ei myr hvor det ligger nesten en million kilo bly. Løvenskiold skytebanen på Skytterkollen på Fossum i Bærum. Vannet rundt er farlig for mennesker, hunder og skogens dyr. Bly er en nervegift og gir lavere IQ. Det vet man blybensin og blyholdig maling. Bloggpost om drikkevannet i Asker og Bærum.
Jeg har hørt skuddene, men har aldri tenkt på faren for blyforurensing fra ammunisjonen, sier Harald Wisløff som er ute på tur med hunden Wissy. Andre hundeeiere holder kjæledyret i tett bånd når de går forbi de sildrende bekkene som kommer fra skytebanen. -Nei, bikkja mi får ikke drikke av vannet her. Jeg har sett oppslag. Det sier en dame som allerede er ferdig med søndagsturen og løfter hunden inn i et bur i bagasjerommet.Men der noen nekter hunden å drikke, er det andre som fyller drikkeflaskene sine. Advarslene som noen har lest står ikke ved bekkene lenger, og åpenbart har informasjonen om vanninnholdet ikke nådd alle.
Pensjonert ingeniør Knut Søraas, firmaet KConsult, er bosatt på Eiksmarka rett ved Løvenskiold skytebanen og har gjort uavhengige målinger av bly i grunn og mark. Bly og antimon undersøkelse, Fossum skiskytterarena i Bærum kommune, 2015. Rapport Bly undersøkelse, Løvenskiold skytterbane på Fosser i Bærum kommune, 2015.
Det er av interesse å undersøke om blyverdiene her er større enn det innbyggerne i Flint, Michigan, opplevde i drikkevannet.
Vilt som spiser blyhagl skades og dør
Oppdatering 16. juni 2022. Idag leste jeg en interessant artikkel på Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sitt prosjekt childrenshealthdefense Autopsy of Eagle Reveals Devastating Impact of Lead Poisoning. Når jegere skyter vilt etterlater de ofte innvoller i naturen. Ikke noe galt i det. Innvollene blir fort borte fordi de er mat for andre dyr. Men har man brukt blyammunisjon vil åtseleterne få i seg dette også. De forgiftes og kan oppleve alvorlig skade og dø. “Lead impacts every system in the body,” according to Krysten Schuler, a wildlife ecologist at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab. Exposed birds can go blind, lose their ability to digest food and struggle to fly, along with a litany of other issues.
Når jegere ivrer for at blyammunisjon skal være tillatt så ødelegger man for seg selv (“skyter seg selv i foten”). Fordi det forgifter levende vilt og dermed blir det mindre vilt totalt, også på jegerne.
Forbud mot blyammunisjon
Oppdatering 10. sept 2023. Aftenposten idag. Jakten på lovlig ammo. Forbudet mot bruk av blyhagl trådte i kraft 15. feb i år. Etterspørselen av blyfri ammunisjon har derfor skutt i været. Jegere er på jakt etter alternativ ammunisjon, men hele våpenbransjen har opplevd begrensede leveranser. Krigen i Ukraina har gitt svikt i råvareleveranser. I mars 2021 vedtok EU-kommisjonen endringer i kjemikalieregelverket Reach, som innebar at det ble forbudt å bruke og bære med seg blyhagl i og nærmere enn 100 meter fra våtmark. Forbudet gjelder både på jakt og skytebaner. Forbudet trådte i kraft 15. februar 2023. Reach-regelverket gjelder også i Norge gjennom EØS-avtalen, og endringene ble tatt inn i forskrift om utøvelse av jakt, felling og fangst. Bly har alvorlige helseeffekter på mennesker og dyr. Årsaken til at blyhagl blir strengere regulert, er for å beskytte fuglelivet i Europa. Kilde: Miljødirektoratet
