Boys' sickness traced to an old crystal decanter
This reminds me, there was once an episode of a medically themed show - I think it was Doogie Howser MD (before we realised he might have secretly had a thing for Vinnie) - in which an elderly woman's illness turned out to be lead poisoning from using some plates and bowls she got from (I think) Mexico. It was a valuable lesson for doctors about sitting down and spending hours chatting about anything with their ill patients who have hard to diagnose problems, or something like that. Or maybe it was an advertisement for more thorough toxicological testing when you can't tell what's going on. One or the other.
Actually, I wonder if lead poisoning is more readily recognised in Australia than the US. As this recent report noted, lead levels in kids in older Australian houses being renovated can often be a real problem. In fact, I know of someone whose young daughter got dangerous levels many years ago before he had heard of this danger. The first he knew something was wrong was the dog getting wobbly in the legs.
Lead is nasty stuff. Recently its continued use in shooting game birds in England was noted as a potential health problem too. And even for those waterbirds that aren't shot, they often ingest lead shot and it can kill them. The lead shot is not supposed to be used, but the law is apparently widely ignored.
I see that lead shot is also banned for hunting in Australia. I wonder if our hunters are following that law?
Alicia had been storing her expressed milk in an old crystal glass decanter - the type of family heirloom found in many Australian households.It was making her twin boys sick. It's an odd use to put the family crystal to, though.
But the brilliant old-fashioned crystalware, created by combining molten quartz with lead compounds, was slowly leaching lead into her milk.
This reminds me, there was once an episode of a medically themed show - I think it was Doogie Howser MD (before we realised he might have secretly had a thing for Vinnie) - in which an elderly woman's illness turned out to be lead poisoning from using some plates and bowls she got from (I think) Mexico. It was a valuable lesson for doctors about sitting down and spending hours chatting about anything with their ill patients who have hard to diagnose problems, or something like that. Or maybe it was an advertisement for more thorough toxicological testing when you can't tell what's going on. One or the other.
Actually, I wonder if lead poisoning is more readily recognised in Australia than the US. As this recent report noted, lead levels in kids in older Australian houses being renovated can often be a real problem. In fact, I know of someone whose young daughter got dangerous levels many years ago before he had heard of this danger. The first he knew something was wrong was the dog getting wobbly in the legs.
Lead is nasty stuff. Recently its continued use in shooting game birds in England was noted as a potential health problem too. And even for those waterbirds that aren't shot, they often ingest lead shot and it can kill them. The lead shot is not supposed to be used, but the law is apparently widely ignored.
I see that lead shot is also banned for hunting in Australia. I wonder if our hunters are following that law?
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