# At what age (in the US) would lead poisoning no longer be a risk

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-in-the-us-would-lead-poisoning-no-longer-be-a-risk/819200>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 6, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-in-the-us-would-lead-poisoning-no-longer-be-a-risk/819200 "2018-08-06T23:45:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-in-the-us-would-lead-poisoning-no-longer-be-a-risk/819200/22 "2019-02-12T21:26:31Z")

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> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> I was involved in the treatment of a few cases of lead poisoning as a pharmacist, and with one exception, all of them were in dogs. The scenario was usually this: The “parents” were renovating an old house, which led to powdered paint all over the house, and they caught the dog licking it up; apparently, dogs often really like the taste of lead paint. :eek: .

Not just dogs. I’ve seen two cases reported of Electricians chewing on bits of wire: one of the reasons is that the lead content in the pvc made the plastic slightly sweet. I imagine that this is also a factor with the dust/paint poisoning of young children.

Regarding other sources: the lead from gasoline settled in the dust around roads with heavy traffic, as did the dust from the brake pads (which sometimes used to contain lead as well as often containing asbestos).

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-in-the-us-would-lead-poisoning-no-longer-be-a-risk/819200/23 "2019-02-12T22:08:17Z")

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How long ago was this about electricians? That is really weird! Wow.

Chewing gum is safer!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-in-the-us-would-lead-poisoning-no-longer-be-a-risk/819200/24 "2019-02-14T01:58:31Z")

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> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> How long ago was this about electricians? That is really weird! Wow.
> 
> Chewing gum is safer!

Around 1975 and again around 1995.

I would imagine that our new wiring is now lead-free, but I don’t have any information.

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