Two Thousand Years of Lead Poisoning

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• Two Thousand Years of Lead Poisoning
• 1st Century AD. Dioscerides Lead makes the mind
  give way
• 1763. Benjamin FranklinLead in painters,
  printers and tinkers
• 1830 Charles Dickens Uncommercial Traveler
• 1892. Brisbane Australia Childhood lead
  poisoning described
• 1943. Randolph Byers Long term effects
• 1991. PHS Strategic Plan
• 1993 NAS Report

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Five Phases of Lead Toxicology

• There is no such thing as childhood lead
  poisoning. (1892)
• It exists, but if it doesnt kill you, it doesnt
  touch you
• There are long term effects, but only in children
  with severe symptoms (1979)
• Silent lead exposure has long term consequences
• Lead exposure is associated with antisocial
  behavior

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Slope of Lead/IQ Regression
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The Effects of Lead Are Permanent
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Prenatal Lead Exposure and IQ
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LEAD AND DELINQUENCY

195 adjudicated delinquents, 155 controls Bone
lead levels Cases 11ppm32ppm Controls 1.5
32ppm 10 variates controlled in the analysis Odds
ratio 4.0 ( 1.4-11.1) Population attributable
risk 11-38
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Good public health pays off
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Reasons for Persistence of Lead Poisoning

• Belief that it is a poor black problem
• Belief that it is a problem of poor child rearing
• Belief that the problem has been solved
• Lack of interest by academic pediatrics
• Efforts of lead industry to disguise the problem
• Belief that we cannot afford to solve the problem

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What is to be done?

• Unemployment and excess lead exist in the same
  places
• Therefore, train the unemployed to safely delead
  and pay them
• The same dollar would make taxpayers out of
  welfare recipients,
• Would make houses safe, beautiful and energy
  efficient
• Would result in the money being spent in the
  inner city and multiply

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Who Did This

• Alan Leviton MD
• Dave Bellinger PhD
• Bob Reid PhD
• A bunch of chemists
• Molly Tashjian BA
• Chris McFarland BS
• Julie Riess PhD