# Model lines baby crib with lead to protect against "cosmic rays"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 11, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405 "2003-05-11T00:09:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/1 "2003-05-11T00:09:55Z")
[http://www.news.com.au/common/story\_page/0,4057,6362318%5E13780,00.html](http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6362318%255E13780,00.html)
Just… ugh. Does she have something against her baby becoming super-powered or something? Or does she just think lead-poisoned kids are cuter?
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### Author:  [@Ashkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashkicker)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/2 "2003-05-11T00:15:08Z")
Sounds like the radiation has already penetrated her brain.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/3 "2003-05-11T00:28:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Sounds like the radiation has already penetrated her brain.
Not so. She wraps herself and her other kids in a tinfoil blanket. Those rays couldn’t have penetrated her brain.
[sub]Why do the ones with great breasts always have a screw loose? 😃 [/sub]
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### Author:  [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/4 "2003-05-11T00:29:13Z")
As the child grows, we can only hope that she will be a good enough mother to get it an [Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie™](http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html)
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/5 "2003-05-11T01:05:57Z")
Cosmic rays are a SHITLOAD stronger at 10 kilometers of altitude, you know. I mean, on a cosmic scale, 10 kilometers is, like, a lot.
AAAAAARRRGGHHH!
Didn’t think MacPherson would be like this. She always seemed pretty normal. And she’s 40 already? Wow.
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/6 "2003-05-11T01:51:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Apos \*
> \*\*[http://www.news.com.au/common/story\_page/0,4057,6362318%5E13780,00.html](http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6362318%255E13780,00.html)
>
> Just… ugh. Does she have something against her baby becoming super-powered or something? Or does she just think lead-poisoned kids are cuter? \*\*
Oh for heaven’s sake. The woman is mildly eccentric – at worst, erring on the side of extreme caution – but there’s no evidence that the child is in danger of lead poisoning. Lead is harmful if ingested, but it’s not like she’s swaddling the child in lead-based paint chips.
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### Author:  [@nogginhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogginhead)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/7 "2003-05-11T02:09:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Finagle \*
> \*\*Oh for heaven’s sake. The woman is mildly eccentric – at worst, erring on the side of extreme caution – but there’s no evidence that the child is in danger of lead poisoning. Lead is harmful if ingested, but it’s not like she’s swaddling the child in lead-based paint chips. \*\*
I belive there’s fairly strong evidence that you don’t need to eat lead to suffer developemental delays.
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### Author:  [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/8 "2003-05-11T02:25:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by nogginhead \*
> \*\*I belive there’s fairly strong evidence that you don’t need to eat lead to suffer developemental delays. \*\*
You either need to [eat it or breath](http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/leadinfo.htm) lead based dust, neither of which is likely to happen here.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/9 "2003-05-11T02:32:27Z")
Babies get what they can into their mouths, and failing that, will still lick the item. I don’t know if that’s an efficient way to ingest lead, but lining a baby’s crib with lead doesn’t strike me as being a good idea.
Robin
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### Author:  [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/10 "2003-05-11T03:45:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \*
> \*\*Babies get what they can into their mouths, and failing that, will still lick the item. I don’t know if that’s an efficient way to ingest lead, but lining a baby’s crib with lead doesn’t strike me as being a good idea.
>
> Robin \*\*
It’s a **very** inefficient way to ingest lead. If the baby were teething then there would be a problem, because lead is a fairly soft metal and the baby could scrape some off with its teeth and ingest it, but just licking it? Uh-uh.
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### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/11 "2003-05-11T03:50:39Z")
Well, I wasn’t as serious about the lead-poisoning thing: it’s the fear of “cosmic rays” that gets me. The exposure is simply not at all dangerous, especially for the short amount of time spent in the upper atmosphere. And it’s not like the “rays” can be truly kept out unless this is a sealed lead box. Lead bars wouldn’t do it.
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/12 "2003-05-11T04:14:38Z")
Seriously, guys. Mildly eccentric? Did you forget how to recognize raw, unbleached ignorance when you got a good look at her boobs? The woman’s a moron.
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### Author:  [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/13 "2003-05-11T04:28:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Seriously, guys. Mildly eccentric? Did you forget how to recognize raw, unbleached ignorance when you got a good look at her boobs? The woman’s a moron.
I \<3 you, Ogre.
It’s a loony thing to do and if your next door neighbor did it, you’d probably think she was a few sammiches short of a picnic.
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### Author:  [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/14 "2003-05-11T05:55:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MsRobyn \*
> \*\*Babies get what they can into their mouths, and failing that, will still lick the item. I don’t know if that’s an efficient way to ingest lead, but lining a baby’s crib with lead doesn’t strike me as being a good idea.
> \*\*
Well, if she is determined enough to have a custom made lead-lined baby bed for safety issues, I am reasonably sure it would be covered by some material that will not allow the baby to come in contact with the lead.
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### Author:  [@futureman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/futureman)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/15 "2003-05-11T06:23:14Z")
Actually it all depends on how often they are flying. I remember learning that after a certain number of flights, cosmic rays do become an issue. Of course you know that most of the radiation we recieve comes from cosmic rays. Frequent flyers are affected by that. They say its like 170 chest x-rays a year. So it isn’t that strange if she flies a lot, and I bet she does because she’s a model
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/16 "2003-05-11T06:29:35Z")
The Master speaks:
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_235b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_235b.html)
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### Author:  [@stypticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stypticus)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/17 "2003-05-11T06:31:13Z")
So the thick metal body of the aircraft isn’t enough?
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/18 "2003-05-11T06:40:05Z")
No, it’s not.
But the odds are that the exposure to radiation for a passenger is not significent. Apparently Elle didn’t agree.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/19 "2003-05-11T06:51:44Z")
According to the American Nuclear Society, you can estimate your exposure at about 0.5 mrem per hour in the air. This can be compared with 240 mrem per year which comes normally via food, water, and the air we breathe.
[http://www.ans.org/pi/raddosechart/pdfs/raddosechart.pdf](http://www.ans.org/pi/raddosechart/pdfs/raddosechart.pdf)
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### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-lines-baby-crib-with-lead-to-protect-against-cosmic-rays/174405/20 "2003-05-12T04:56:08Z")
I’m a bit surprized that I’m the first poster who’s BS-meter was tripped as soon as he saw “as reported by British newspaper The Sun”. Isn’t that like the British version of the National Enquirer?
-lv
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