Does lead go in the air from industrial areas?

I lived in this same apartment for 3 years, and every once in a while some strange smells blow in from outside. It's never been this bad, it always smells like bad black beans or the paper plant... It's not like i'm in Gary, IN, this is St. Paul, MN. There are not many LARGE smoke stacks around here; but I know that I'm not too far from some sort of industry. Could there also be lead coming out of smokestacks? Should I just be safe, and spend my money on the AC instead of leaving the doors and windows open?

Answer:
You are concerned about your air quality due to foul industrial odors. You specifically are wary of lead. Lead particulates in air have no odor per se. The odor of bad beans is most likely a sulfur-based emission, and only a small concentration is sufficient to wrinkle your nose. Think rotten eggs or the odor you smell when natural gas burners are left on without a flame. Even if you saw lots of smoke stacks you would not see lead emissions. Gone are the old days of smoky skies (I should know...I'm in Pittsburgh!). You will not see emissions. If you see white "smoke" coming from a stack, it is likely it is steam these days.

Industrial air emissions are strictly regulated by the EPA and administered by various state environmental departments. While lead may be emitted as a gas from industrial processes, the company must do regular monitoring and provide the results to the the appropriate regulatory agency.

You may wish to phone your county health department to find out if there have been any reported "air emission excursions"; that is, releases greater than allowed limits.

It is true that if you breathe filtered air you will likely get a lesser exposure to air pollutants. However, it is my opinion that the legal limits are designed to be protective of human health and the risk factors calculated into the equations reduce the likelihood of harm by several orders of magnitude. Unless you live right in an active industrial zone, your risk is not great.

In Minnesota, you may wish to contact the Pollution Control Agency at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/ or the Department of Natural Resources at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html... to learn more about air quality and how to protect yourself.

Unless you make your apartment air tight( inadvisable) using the AC will not prevent air pollution from getting in to your apartment. All sorts of stuff gets put into the air from industry. Mercury, lead, etc etc. You might want to invest in some air filtration masks if you are super worried. That's what they have to do in many of the industrialized areas in China.

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Does lead go in the air from industrial areas?

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