Both. I agree some seem to be immune to it, just like smoking. The majority are not. Blood tests are not an accurate measure of the lead in your body. Lead is Accumulative and does not stay in your blood that long. It finds a place to hide and Biopsies are the only true measure of total exposure. It's a poor analogy, but it's somewhat similar to radiation, in that it does not register after a while. You may be clean of radiation and have very serious damage done to your organs.TRA,
I'm sorry to hear that you've had some difficulties.
Do you know exactly what caused your elevated lead levels? Do you attribute it more to shooting indoors or to casting?
Over on the Cast Boolit forums there's a bunch of posts on this topic. Over many years some have had problems and others have had no elevation of lead levels in their blood tests.
If enough precautions are taken...staying upwind of casting fumes, washing hands, not shooting indoors, powder coating, etc., I wouldn't say it's near impossible to be safe, but what you've posted above is a good reminder to be careful.
Here's just a short glimpse as to what happens to your body when exposed to lead.
Once lead enters the body, it is distributed to organs such as the brain, kidneys, liver and bones. The body stores lead in the teeth and bones where it accumulates over time. Lead stored in bone may be remobilized into the blood during pregnancy, thus exposing the fetus.
As I said some shows up in blood tests, most of it will not.
Lead is a cumulative poison, meaning once it enters the body, it accumulates in areas such as the blood, kidneys, liver, and brain. Inhaling lead dust or fumes is the most common way lead poisoning occurs.
Most who claim they have no lead accumulation or effects from it, are either avoiding the truth or are misinformed.