There is lead in and on our roadways. Lots of it. Lead exposure inhalation from roadways is probably the biggest source of lead exposure in america currently. It may have always been the biggest source and lead paint was thrown under the bus in order to hide or obfuscate the real problem. What probably happened is they noticed very high rates of lead poisoning so they reduced the lead in rubber and asphalt and at the same time blamed it on the paint industry since it would be so expensive to get rid of lead from rubber. Just think how much more bioavailable lead is when it is in finely ground tire dust you inhale rather than paint that you would have to eat for it to hurt you. Roadways are by far the hugest risk of lead exposure. Toxic lead clouds perpetually envelope the roadways.
Tires, aka vulcanized rubber, are made from 3 basic ingredients. Oil, sulfur, and lead oxide. Over time they have replaced some of the lead oxide with the poison cadmium oxide and zinc oxide and they have replaced some of the sulfur with selenium.
Be aware, you are getting poisoned every day in your daily commute to work.
http://www.lead.org.au/q&a/2006/20060403001.html
http://pslc.ws/macrog/exp/rubber/bepisode/vulcan.htm
I don't know what to say or where to hide.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to start wearing a dust mask when I walk near a busy road and if you have a car keep the windows up and your cabin air filter changed.
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