Dear Trevor,
An interesting question and one I've explored in my thesis and
beyond. Lead is dissolvable to an extent, which can cause problems.
What are your housepipes made of and where does the water come
from? Are you in a hard or soft water area? What exactly are you doing
in the garden?
There are a few 'learned behaviours' that warded off poisoning
when using lead, but these were mostly lost during the 20th century.
I'd be interested to hear the outcomes in your investigation,
Heather
Quoting Trevor <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dear List,
>
> Rather an odd one this which I direct to the scientific community
> working with metals.
>
> My wife and myself live in property dating from the early 17th
> century and which was adjacent to a lead smelting site which has
> been dated to the 16th/17th century. The garden of our property
> contains relatively large quantities of lead slag from this period
> down to a depth of 2m. This was discovered during archaeological
> excavation.
>
> We have been subjected to periodic illness which doctors have been
> unable to diagnose. We have looked at many possible causes -
> installing carbon dioxide detectors which have not responded to its
> presence, to the installation of a water purifying system to prevent
> any possible sources of infection from water sources.
>
> We are now looking at poisoning as a possible diagnosis and note
> that the symptoms for lead poisoning are exactly what we appear to
> be suffering.
>
> There are several questions which come to mind. Radon can cause ill
> health through the decay of granites beneath a property. In the same
> manner, can lead slogs decay to create toxicity within a property,
> or the garden of the property.
>
> Any insights into this issue would be very gratefully received.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Trevor & Patty Drunkenly
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