Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America’s Children

Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner

2001

2011

Gibson (1904) Blackfan (1917) on Lead Poisoning from Paint

1926

Cater to the Children

Dutch Boy Handbook on Painting, 1950

Amount of lead

Of late…

Ellen Silbergeld, Clair Patterson, Herbert Needleman ca. 1977

The Problem Facing Researchers: 1990

57 million privately occupied housing units

that contain some lead paint with 10 million children under 7 years old

• Full Lead Abatement – 2 story, 3 bedroom house, $15,000

• Fear of Landlord Abandonment if Full Abatement

• Abatement Methods Dangerous

\

Emergence of a Grand Compromise:

1991 KKI Repair and Maintenance Study:•Funded by the EPA -- $200,000 Grant•Goal: Evaluate “cheaper alternatives to full lead abatement”•Method: 108 homes partially abated •108 families with children between ages 6 months to 6 years. Level 1 Abatement, $1650; Level 2 Abatement, $3500 ; Level 3 Abatement, $7000

– Hopkins encourages landlords to rent to families with young children.

– Measured lead dust levels in homes – Compared different levels of abatement to changes in children’s

blood-lead levels.

The Study

May 10, 1994 Consent Form

Consent Forms Statement of Purpose 1992 and 1994

1992:

1994:

KKI Responds to Lawsuit• Oral Argument: • 1. KKI was merely “an observer” that

“collect[ed] information about an existing and evolving condition which KKI neither created nor controlled.”

• 2. That Kennedy Krieger was doing this study to determine whether they can find a cost-effective way to reduce a child’s exposure to lead

Plaintiffs Argument• KKI was hardly a “passive” participant collecting

data. – It had designed the experiment, – it had required that leaded homes be part of

the study, – It had “encouraged the landlord to lease the

property to a family with a young child.”– it had contracted for limited repairs knowing

that the danger of ingestion of lead dust by children in residence was still a probability,

National Center for Lead Safe Housing, Amicus Brief

– “Virtually all children who live in houses located in Baltimore City and built prior to 1958 are exposed to lead,” and many cities throughout the country were plagued by similar conditions.– complete removal of lead was just not

economically practical in such cities, given competing political agendas and the dilapidated condition of the nation’s housing stock for poor people.

Ultimate Statement of the Problem

• “society [is] already doing a [vast] Tuskegee experiment. Very little if anything [is] happening to remove lead while children [are] being poisoned.”

The Disjuncture Between Public Perception and Public Health

Court:

Researcher: