1. HK Fu on Orthopaedic surgeon: Broken bones and itching more common during spring weather
    HK Fu HK Fu United States says:
    April 2, 2016 at 9:32 AM

    I was wondering about the lead pencils factoid in this article.

    "The use of lead pencils can even cause blood poisoning"

    When I hear something like that from a doc, I would expect it's because it is something that actually happens. In reality. I'm not buying this one, though. I know pencil "lead" is actually graphite, but maybe there are still a few pencils around with "lead" that is actually lead? So I looked into it and lead has not been used to write with since before the invention of the pencil hundreds of years ago. Looks like the pencil was invented because graphite was too fragile to use without a holder.

    This does not mean the rest of the advice is questionable, but it does cast doubt on it for me. Might keep your patients' trust better to stick to real facts.

    Reply
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