rajitkg12: Some historians have advanced the idea that one of the reasons the Roman Empire fell was because of the extensive use of lead pipes and lead utensils. This caused ingestion of lead and resulted in mental disorders and birth defects, among all of the common symptoms of lead poisoning.
Lead poisoning from water sources and pipe joints has recently, and famously, been widespread in the city of Flint, Michigan, USA, and high levels of lead have been found in the population. Bottled water has been brought in, but I wonder how people brush their teeth and what happens when swimming pool water is swallowed, I don't know. Of course, most of the people in Flint are poor, so who cares? The big occupations are blaming someone else and claiming that there's no money to fix the problem, which is very large.
Yes, birth defects are a big issue in lead poisoning and high lead levels do affect fetal development. Check this out for a brief overview:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20354717
I can't tell you anything about the state of indoor shooting ranges. All I can say is that lead dust is generated by shooting lead pellets, bullets, and shot. How much and under what conditions, I can't say. Lead dust is also generated when bullets are cast from lead (the danger is dust; lead requires much higher temperatures to vaporize) and because of this, I've always done this outside. Now, I don't like the neighbors seeing me do this, so I'm figuring out some sort of fume hood -- perhaps a damaged kitchen range hood would work.
For sure, lead needs to be handled with care. I have wanted to find some nitrile or latex gloves (the kind lab workers and doctors use), but I have large hands and from working in scientific labs, I know that the "L" size doesn't fit me too well. I need to keep looking, as I think my past lead handling has been faulty, although as I've said, I never have had symptoms and my blood tests don't show a problem -- yet. When I get to casting, I will be casting thousands of bullets, so I need to deal with this problem now, before I start.
If you are interested, here are some links to check out:
https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/file ... HA3772.pdf
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... ealth-risk
https://www.usacarry.com/how-to-avoid-l ... r-shootin/
https://thegunzone.com/can-you-get-lead ... ing-range/
As I said, I shoot at an outdoor range and have yet to get out this year. I live at high altitude and we had snow two days ago. The tree in the back yard is just starting to bud out its leaves. I will probably go out next week for the first time. I suppose that, even though I really don't need more, I will pick up a bunch of 9mm brass, and anything else useful that I can find. I really need some gloves for washing these cases, as I already have a boatload to process.