You grew up at the peak of leaded gasoline, leaded paint, and leaded everything. Your body is still carrying it. Blood lead clears in 30 days. Bone lead does not. Under stress, pregnancy, menopause, or osteoporosis, the bones release lead back into the bloodstream.
Blood lead has a half-life of about 30 days. The lead you breathed as a kid is no longer circulating. It is in your bones. Bone lead has a half-life of decades.
NHANES shows the 1976-1980 cohort had blood lead 7-10x higher than today's kids. That generation is now 45-70. The lead is still there, just relocated.
Pulls the leaded-gasoline exposure for that geography and decade.
Where you lived and for how long during the lead-paint years.
Painters, mechanics, plumbers, soldering, firing-range exposure.
Hypertension, kidney function, cognitive symptoms.
