Anyone test flashlight exterior for lead content?

Has anyone test the flashlights that are made in China for lead content? I am referring to lights such as Microfire, Wolf eyes etc....

I am sure everyone have heard of news reports of lead content in children toys. I wonder if flashlight manufacturers use non-lead pain on wolf eyes, Fenix or Microfire.

Paint =! Anodizing coating

I'm more worried about that funny smelling rubber they put in handles and clickie switches.

Marduke said:

Paint =! Anodizing coating

I'm more worried about that funny smelling rubber they put in handles and clickie switches.

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Yep , Ive yet to hear about a painted flashlight since 98% of them are anodized. I know some guys that Duracoat their lights, but thats it.

considering I'm a tuna fan, have fondled a bar of lead before [more of a sampling when I visited a lead acid cell recycle plant, we're talking a mountain of lead blocks], I'm not too worried....but then again I don't buy Chinese lights and almost all my secondhand lights from BST went through the soap scrub tub [at least once]:nana:

I fired thousands of lead pellets in my pellet guns over the years. You need to ingest lead, get it in a cut, or in muscous membranes, or inhale the dust (firing range), to absorb it. It's not like touching lead will suddenly give you lead poisoning. I handled a lot of lead fishing lures, sinkers, etc, as a kid.

I used to work for a company that manufactured water and lead test kits. The "surface" lead test kits are kinda a crapshoot... even if someone has tested a flashlight for surface lead with a DIY kit, I would believe the results to be suspect.

kudos to picard for raising the concern though
dunno about you guys...but sometimes I mouth my lights when I'm in need of a third hand

Illum_the_nation said:

kudos to picard for raising the concern though
dunno about you guys...but sometimes I mouth my lights when I'm in need of a third hand

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wonder what this will do to your B/S/T reputation...

Seriously, I'd be more worried about the batteries than a well-made light. Notice I said "well-made".

prof said:

wonder what this will do to your B/S/T reputation...

Seriously, I'd be more worried about the batteries than a well-made light. Notice I said "well-made".

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I'm strictly a light buyer...in my flashaholic life I've never sold anything on the forum...how does that harm my reputation?

I think I'd start with Lithium worries and work my way down to Lead right after ingesting the whole flashlight by mistake.

news story from Science Daily nov 20 2007:
Even Very Low Levels Of Lead Cause Brain Damage In Children.
.
So holding a lead coated flashlight in your mouth while doing that critical
late night procedure may really be worrisome.

Can saliva take lead off the flash light?

And what if you kiss your pregnant wife right after the exposure?
And your kid is born stupid?
And he/she never moves out of your house?
Or becomes a politician?

Any lead transfer from a painted flashlight (Chinese special) would be very minimal, no adverse effects are likely to be noticed unless there is a serious underlying medical allergy. Plus about 98% of lights we use are anodized coated with a Titanium based coating, or are bare metal (non of which are lead) so there is little to no chance of lead problems, every time someone touches a PCB there is a huge chance of it being rich in lead, no one seams to worry there either.

People would be shocked if they realized how much lead was in all electrical appliances around them. Lead-free solder has existed for years, but most appliances still don't use it. Children's toys I understand, but who cares for all this other stuff?? Unless you slobber all over it like a 6 month old does, there is nothing to worry about.

You probably end up hurting yourself more just by the stress of worrying about it.

If you want to worry about what's getting into your body, I'd worry more about that "special sauce" as your favorite restaurant... :green:

I'm like one of the earlier posters- My brother and I had a lead soldier set when we were kids-we melted up a pot of lead (in our room!), and made soldiers with the molds-then we painted them (probably with leaded paint)
Later, I got into primitive muzzleloading, and cast my own bullets. I've touched a hell of a lot of lead in my time,and somehow still managed to get my BSME. I was probably off the scale for IQ when I was born, but all the lead brought me down to just near-genius level by college age.