I'm no doctor, but if you've only done a few hours of this and you're 20+ it's probably no big deal. However, you are breathing lead vapor and it's not good for you (if you're at 100s of hours and 12yo that's really not good). If it gets on things you eat, it's also bad. The effects are permanent.
We had leaded (Ethyl) gasoline in cars which was banned 25 years ago and that had noticeable statistical effects on IQ an emotional regulation (violence) for more than a generation.
Well, like I said I'm no doctor, but I don't know that I'd use quora to make medical decisions.
Here's an environmental safety article from MIT. It mentions lead oxide fumes from soldering. What do I know other than the required lab safety training.
It says that lead fumes are unlikely to be generated:
Based on standard soldering iron temperatures of 620°F-700°F and the melting point of lead (621°F), it is unlikely that lead fume will be generated during electronic soldering, unless the solder is heated to lead’s vaporization temperature of 3182°F.
Interesting that you skip right past the part that I mentioned about lead oxide fumes.
"During the soldering process in the form of lead filler metals, lead oxide
fumes are formed and excessive exposure to lead oxide fumes can result in
lead poisoning."
At hundreds of hours, you're fine. Honestly, even at thousands of hours, you're probably okay.
Most of the fumes come from the flux boiling way, not the solder itself. (Mind you, I still wouldn't recommend breathing flux fumes. Those are bad in their own way. Adequate ventilation is important!)
Lead is unequivocally bad for you, but the amount that actually enters your system from soldering activities is miniscule.
It's good to minimize these substances in our daily life since they do add up over decades. The problem with leaded gas in cars is that there were just so many cars out there burning the stuff. Duration of exposure and amount of exposure both matter.
That said... do wash your hands after handling leaded solder, especially before eating.
(I used to have a summer job in high school assembling circuit boards for an electronics test company. I easily clocked a couple hundred hours soldering under a magnifying lamp with leaded solder. I'm sure the burns I gave myself from accidently touching the soldering iron itself did more damage than the lead. :P)
> The problem with leaded gas in cars is that there were just so many cars out there burning the stuff. Duration of exposure and amount of exposure both matter.
The difference is not the amount of cars, but that the temperature and pressure in car engines makes lead vaporise, so it can be breathed in.
A soldering iron doesn't reach those temperatures (vaporising the lead is the opposite of what you want when soldering).
We had leaded (Ethyl) gasoline in cars which was banned 25 years ago and that had noticeable statistical effects on IQ an emotional regulation (violence) for more than a generation.