In reading the recent developments about Lead contaminated toys, it struck me that I may want to abandon all weighted nymph use and become a dry fly purist.

Fly tyers use lead fuse wire to weight all underwater flies. Lead wire acted as the metal filament seen in today’s fuses, burning through at the appropriate amperage and killing the circuit. Dropped from commercial use long ago, but still remains the preferred choice to sink a small hook.

Lead is absorbed most readily through airborne dust and ingestion. It can also be absorbed through the skin when mixed with sweat. While tyers handle lead a short time during fly construction, tying a lot of flies prolongs the exposure.

The best information I can decipher, is that you want to wash your hands. Slightly more sinister is the finding that “oxidized lead” – lead that has discolored via contact with the air, is absorbed at a much higher rate.

In short, if you handle lead, it’s on your fingers, if you smoke while handling lead, its in your mouth as well. If you have old spools of oxidized lead in your tying bench, those pose more risk than newer spools of clean metallic lead.

As a defensive practice, and if concerned, I would suggest that you lead all of your hooks in a quick session, wash your hands, then complete the flies. In this fashion you are not replenishing the lead on your fingers with each new fly.

Now that all us tyers have no hope of reproduction, current research also suggests that consumption of iron, zinc, and calcium, assists the body in getting the lead out.

Nice to know that SingleBarbed was all over the vitamin issue in a prior post, cutting edge medicine free for the asking.