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I just went camping and someone brought a game from Australia. There was a wooden box with the top made of a thin, soft sheet of lead with a hole in it. The participants then throw coins at the box, and getting the coin inside gives some points, while landing a coin on top gives a little less. I've been looking online, and I think the game is called "Toad in the hole".

I know that lead is toxic, but I don't know in what way. Is it toxic to touch this lead sheet? And to eat afterwards without washing hands?

Maybe lead is only toxic in some form?

orthocresol
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Mads Skjern
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  • Children used to play with models of soldiers made of lead, so … – Jan Mar 01 '17 at 12:37
  • @madsskjern How did you know that the sheet was made of lead and not some other metal? – Prem Mar 26 '18 at 04:59
  • First of all, that is what they told me. And it seemed like lead, it was heavy and soft and had the color of lead. I have bo reason to believe it was not :) – Mads Skjern Apr 02 '18 at 10:29
  • @Jan On its own, that doesn't mean anything. Children may have also received lead poisoning after playing with lead soldiers. – Clonkex Jun 26 '23 at 00:52

2 Answers2

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No, it is not toxic to touch solid lead. Lead poisoning results from

  • ingestion: paints used to contain lead-based materials, and kids would sometimes eat the peeling paint leading to health problems.
  • inhalation: if you were grinding or polishing a block of lead and fine particles were generated, you might inhale them if you weren't using the proper protective equipment and health problems could develop.
  • dermal contact: if you were working with organic lead compounds that were easily absorbed through the skin, serious health problems would result if you weren't using the proper protective equipment. Gasoline used to contain lead compounds, but they were removed from gasoline in order to prevent problems.

Being around or touching solid lead would not lead to ingestion, inhalation or dermal contact issues.

Here's a link to Wikipedia article on lead, see the section on "Health effects" if you'd like to read more or read about the biochemical mechanism of action.

ron
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    Thanks. Wikipedia writes: "As lead paint deteriorates, it peels, is pulverized into dust and then enters the body through hand-to-mouth contact or through contaminated food, water or alcohol". Those quantities in the paint are probably very small, but still dangerous. Then imagine throwing coins at a sheet of lead. Is there really no part of the lead sheet that breaks free as lead dust / lead particles? Such particles would also end up in the carpet or atmosphere, like the lead from the paint. – Mads Skjern Sep 08 '14 at 15:15
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    If you did it all day, every day for the rest of your life, there might be a problem. You were probably a couple of feet away which makes inhalation even less likely. I just can't see a one-time event like this being significant. Look at all the folks who pumped leaded gasoline for years and they seem to be OK. – ron Sep 08 '14 at 15:19
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    Just to be safe, I'd wash your hands after handling the lead. – user137 Oct 14 '14 at 14:31
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    @MadsSkjern: I know it's an old comment, but I'd just like to clarify that lead paints used lead compounds as pigments, and thus contained a significant fraction of lead. For example, this page says that "[p]aints made before 1950 contained large amounts of lead. In fact, some paint made in the 1940s contained up to 50% lead by dry weight." – Ilmari Karonen Dec 03 '16 at 16:12
  • Also note the lead in paints is not pure lead (that would be a dull grey paint) but usually lead oxides that are colourful and provide rust protection, not the same as lead metal. Water pipes for drinking water were made of lead in many places for long periods and are not the cause of chronic toxicity. However children's brain development is hampered by exposure to lead COMPOUNDS so best to keep them away from lead paint. – KalleMP Dec 03 '16 at 22:43
  • @IlmariKaronen Given how heavy lead is, going by weight might be meant as more of a scare factor. What's the volumetric ratio? – JAB Dec 04 '16 at 04:26
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    @JAB: Given that the lead in the paint is present as a compound (e.g. an oxide), I'm not sure that's a very meaningful question. You might as well ask how much of the volume of table salt consists of sodium and how much of chlorine. I suppose one could interpret it as "what would be the volume (at STP) of a chunk of pure metallic lead with the same mass as the total lead content of 1 volume unit of dry lead paint?" which would be at least in principle answerable, if one had a figure for the density of the paint (which, alas, I don't have). – Ilmari Karonen Dec 04 '16 at 17:13
  • @KalleMP: Not sure why you say lead compounds. I believe elemental lead is toxic, never heard different. There may be lead compounds that are way more toxic (like dimethyl mercury is crazily more toxic than elemental mercury) but I would like to see a link that indicates elemental lead is safe. – Jeff Sep 08 '17 at 15:31
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    @Jeff While elemental lead is toxic when it is combined with something in your body it is somewhat hard to get it into your body in this form unless it is a finely divided dust or fume. You will notice that I did not claim it not to be toxic, I merely indicated that one needs to me concerned with compounds as they are absorbed more easily (skin absorption being the OPs concern here). - https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10031 – KalleMP Sep 09 '17 at 19:41
  • If you ingest it, it is toxic and touching is a route to ingesting it. But I would guess that it does not go through skin very well as an element. Tetraethyl lead is absorbed through skin very readily however. – Jeff Sep 09 '17 at 20:42
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While merely touching lead is probably not directly dangerous, lead, being soft, probably remains on fingers after handling and therefore washing hands before eating, etc. is necessary after such handling.

Jeff
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  • I'd be interested to see a source for this. "Probably remains on fingers" sounds like speculation. – Clonkex Jun 26 '23 at 00:51
  • @Clonkex Not much chance to get response from a guy who's not around for more than five years... He meant some trace amounts - it's not like you're gonna get your hands dirty with it, but better safe then sorry. – Mithoron Sep 20 '23 at 22:16
  • @Mithoron Possibly, but I'm commenting on the post more than responding to the author. While I definitely do wash my hands after handling lead (better safe than sorry, as you say), without a source this answer is just speculation and should be a comment rather than an answer. It's not really useful to just repeat common beliefs or assumptions unless you can back it up with evidence to show those beliefs are justified. – Clonkex Sep 20 '23 at 22:57