concern of the day: lead poisoning.

the business next door that used to be an auto repair shop closed down a couple months ago and in the past few weeks a work crew has been there demolishing parts of the building. aside from the friendly wake-up sounds of demolition, i have a new concern about the building. a few days ago they wrapped all entrances, including windows and roof vents, in plastic and friday the yellow signs you see pictured here showed up declaring it a "lead hazard zone." hmm. that's a little unnerving considering marty and i have been complaining about all the dust that's been blowing into our house through the open windows for the past week, and that the morning coffee has been tasting more metallic than usual.so i phoned alameda county's Lead Poisoning Prevention Program on friday and explained all this to the woman on the phone. she didn't share my concern, saying that if they had wrapped the building in plastic and posted signs that essentially they were abiding by regulations. her only real concern was if there were children under age 6 in the house. i told her there weren't, but i was still concerned for my own health, and while i had to concede that she was probably right that i have completed my neurological development (unfortunately), i still don't think lead is good for health. and while there aren't any children living in the house now i may just want to have some sometime and should this concern me for say, my ability to reproduce? she said no, she didn't think so and suggested if i was worried about it i should wipe down all the surfaces that have dust on them with a wet rag. the more i pressed her with questions the more she retreated into her known repertoire of lead poisoning services - so for instance she told me if i got the landlord to request it we could have a free inspection of the house to point out potential lead hazards in the paint and soil. well now that you mention it, maybe i should be concerned about that too - but that was not what i called about.
so i've done a little online research about lead poisoning for adults and discovered that it can indeed affect basically all your bodily systems and that symptoms are hard to detect but might include tiredness, irritability, loss of appetite and some other gastrointestinal issues. while i can readily admit to the first two, i certainly haven't lost my appetite so i decided not to pursue that avenue of lead detection. they also suggest eating a balanced diet high in iron, vitamin c, and calcium reduces lead absorption. this information is all coming from a very informative pamphlet put out by oregon's lead poisoning prevention program. they also give you a number to call for lead hazard inspections. it's too bad i don't live in oregon. because what i really want is for some unbiased inspector to come out and tell me if i'm indeed living in a lead hazard zone and what to do about it, but if i can't get that i guess i'll wipe down my furniture and eat more leafy greens.