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Media Release - Wednesday 17st July 2024 Grandma Lead's Advice on Donald Trump's Would-be Assassin's Lead Testing Follow-up |
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Posted: 17 July 2024 at https://leadsafeworld.com/grandma-leads-advice-on-donald-trumps-would-be-assassins-lead-testing-follow-up/ and accessible via https://leadsafeworld.com/blog/ I've just emailed the following follow-up advice re: URGENT: There is every reason to do a blood lead test on Thomas Matthew Crooks and no reason not to (see 15 July 2024 blog post at https://leadsafeworld.com/grandma-lead-calls-for-lead-testing-of-donald-trumps-would-be-assassin/ and accessible via https://leadsafeworld.com/blog/ ) - to the Allegheny County Chief Medical Examiner at the Pittsburgh coroner's office. I invite you to add your own thoughts on social media. Cheers Grandma Lead, aka Elizabeth O'Brien, Australia Dear Chief Medical Examiner, ACOME - Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner, Thank you for your reply to my online submission. I trust by now you have the blood lead result even if not the bone XRF lead result so I wanted to offer my thoughts on interpretation and follow-up, gleaned from advising tens of thousands of people to have their blood lead level tested and then further assisting those who reported their results back to me to identify their lead sources and pathways, carry out abatement and institute other measures to lower their own or their child's blood lead level. As I mentioned last month in my LEAD Action News article "Changing ideas about what is a safe blood lead level" at https://www.lead.org.au/lanv22n2/LANv22n2_06_Info_Pack_56-What_is_a_Safe_Blood_Lead_Level.pdf I always begin by comparing the blood lead result to the Blood Lead table relevant sub-population of the US population blood lead data reported at https://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/data_tables.html Due to COVID, the most recent CDC Blood Lead table only shows the Geometric Mean blood lead levels and percentiles up to the 2017-2018 round of testing, so in your position, you'd be best to request any more recent Blood lead data (even if it only covers 2023 or hasn't been fully prepared for web-publication) from the CDC directly, and if they can't supply any, you're best to just assume (due to US lead poisoning policy generally speaking being the best in the world outside of this major blind-spot towards making shooting lead-safe) that it follows the ongoing trend that all geometric mean blood lead levels in the United States have been falling since the first round of testing in 1976-1980. Thus, you would be comparing Thomas Matthew Crooks' blood lead result to whatever is appropriate for him from the CDC 2017-2018 geometric mean blood lead levels in micrograms per decilitre (ug/dL) - or very-likely-to-be-lower 2023 levels, as follows: CDC 2017-2018 US Geometric Mean Blood Lead Levels
If Thomas Crooks' Blood lead level (BLL) is higher than any of the relevant Geometric Means, then his lead sources and pathways of exposure are worth investigating. If he's higher than the 50th percentile level, they're even more worthy of investigation, and so on if his BLL was higher than the 75th or 90th or 95th percentile. The 95th percentile for Males for instance was 2.79 ug/dL in 2017-2018, and for age 20+ years was 2.62 ug/dL. Let's assume Thomas Crooks' BLL is high enough to be worth investigating in view of the Public Health implications. The higher his BLL the more questions arise and the greater the need for a full lead investigation of his home, past homes, his vehicle and his shooting locations. It is vital to take a lead-exposure-focussed life history from anyone who can answer the following types of questions about his habits either recently or, if relevant, at any time in his life: How and where did he typically spend his days in the last two months of his life? I know environmental lead exposure assessments in the US are typically begun with XRF screening and this would be appropriate if he was a paint contractor or present or involved in lead paint mismanagement or had pica, but I'd recommend the lead assessments of his home, vehicle and shooting locations be done by a team armed with a box full of Ghost Wipes plus water collection containers and that they pre-arrange to go to his past and current homes / past and current shooting facilities when the drinking water taps have not been run for at least 9 hours, so as to be able to collect both a first flush and a flushed water sample from each tap he drank from. A lab should be chosen which is accredited/experienced to carry out both ICP MS and lead isotopic compositional (PbIC) analysis, as was done in the recent "Peppered with lead: An environmental forensics approach to identify the source of rising blood lead levels" at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935124007369 Laboratory analysis of relevant (based on the lead exposure history) samples of dust wipes (including from table tops where he ate, the clothes he died in and his rifle and ammunition bag), drinking water, soil, paint, spices, folk medicines, AvGas sold at the nearby general aviation airport, etc, collected as soon as possible (before anyone has a chance to clean the interior of his vehicle or buildings he frequented), plus of dust wipes of any gun bag and lead analysis plus chemical analysis of the ammunition he used (to determine if he was exposed to lead styphnate or other lead primer), would then be followed up by isotopic research on any of these lead results that stood out as being a contender to explain his current BLL. Isotopic research involves comparing the isotopic fingerprint of all his credible lead sources as identified by laboratory analysis, to his blood lead, urine lead (if available) and, in the case of a deceased person, bone lead and even brain tissue lead, in order to determine which lead sources likely contributed most of a person's lead. For a 20 year old who is not undergoing cortisone treatment, has not recently broken any bones, or drastically changed their activity level (eg spent weeks in hospital or recently begun practicing to run a marathon) the bone lead and brain tissue lead isotopic fingerprinting can also point to earlier-in-life lead sources. So the more dust wipe, paint, soil and drinking water samples that can be collected from past homes and shooting locations (and even his grandparents' home/s or anywhere he spent a lot of time, his childcare centre/s and schools) the better. If there's not enough data to compare Thomas's bone lead XRF result to, then a study of other young shooters and matched controls could be undertaken ASAP to fill the gap. If there's not enough data to compare Thomas's bone lead or urine lead PbIC results to, then a study of other recently deceased young shooters and matched controls could be undertaken ASAP to fill the gaps. I look forward to your response and wish you the best at this harrowing time for your country and so many people hunting for a motivation for this assassination attempt, when really, lead poisoning of the shooter could explain his actions, with or without a motivation. Yours Sincerely Elizabeth O'Brien aka Grandma Lead Not Sure What You Need?
You can have a video call with Grandma Lead (Elizabeth O'Brien) to get advice on what to sample, how to sample and any other lead question that you have. Book a call here. W: www.lead.org.au
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Last Updated 20 July 2024 Copyright © The LEAD Group Inc. 1991- 2024 PO Box 161 Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia Phone: +61 2 9716 0014 |
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Thomas Matthew Crooks' lead testing interpretation and follow-up advice
I was born on Wakka Wakka Country and live and work on the sovereign unceded lands of the Dainggatti Nation and the Gadigal and Wangal people of the
Eora Nation and I pay my respects to Elders, past, present and future. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.