What is lead poisoning? I don't eat chips or lick walls am I in danger?

I've lived here almost 8 years and now I notice the paint on my ceiling is peeling off showing the drywall and the paint is in strips. I'm planing on moving but was just wondering what lead poisoning is. I don't eat paint chips or lick my walls so can I still be in danger?

First of all, every person who said lead can be absorbed through the skin has no clue what they are talking about (I work in a lead smelter so I know what I'm talking about). Chemical Engieer btw.

Lead can enter the body either by ingestion or inhalation (eat it or breathe it). So if the paint was getting scraped off and creating dust then you could breathe it or eat it if it got on your food. I think it's highly doubtful though that the paint in your house is leaded though (I think that's been covered). You'd know by how old your house is if there is a chance of that. Lead is dangerous in large concentrations and the body gets rid of lead rather quickly. Lead got a bad rap from children eating lead paint and since they are smaller it doesn't take much to get a large concentration in them. They are also developing organs, etc so are more in danger from lead.

If your house is pre 1980 it couldn't hurt to have the paint tested but again it's doubtful it contains lead.

Lead poisoning is dangerous because it can enter your body through your skin and build up.

Best to get a lead check at your doctor if you feel you've been exposed.

You'll pick up more lead in your body from pumping fuel into your car than from the paint in your house. Lead paint was used an awfully long time ago now, so depending on the age of the place where you live, it's likely to not even be lead paint.

if the dust levels are high enough you may be in danger - if you are older - as in not a child- you are relatively safe because your development is not as active as a childs.

How old is your house? In 1978, lead based paint was banned, so most houses, (unless they were using old paint) built after that time would not have lead based paint.

For houses built prior to 1978: eating paint chips is one way young children are exposed to lead. It is not the most common way that consumers, in general, are exposed to lead. Ingesting and inhaling lead dust that is created as lead-based paint "chalks," chips, or peels from deteriorated surfaces can expose consumers to lead. Walking on small paint chips found on the floor, or opening and closing a painted frame window, can also create lead dust. Other sources of lead include deposits that may be present in homes after years of use of leaded gasoline and from industrial sources like smelting. Consumers can also generate lead dust by sanding lead-based paint or by scraping or heating lead-based paint.

If your house was built prior to 1978, and the paint is really peeling, etc, you need to have it professionally sanded down and sealed, primed and repainted, to avoid potential hazards.

You can absorb and inhale lead from the paint in old houses. Proceed with caution if you are planning to renovate. The neurological damage caused by lead ingestion is slow but irreversible.

It might be a good idea to have your house tested, just to be safe. Lead poisoning maily effects children but it does harm adults too. If your just concerned about the lead in the paint, don't worry too much unless you have been doing any home remodeling or sanding that could stirr up dust of any kind. Breathing that in will elevate the lead count in your blood levals. Otherwise the latex or oil paint barrier would deflect any harmful material from entering the atmosphere.

~ Chris
EMT - Paramedic