Every article I wrote in those days, every speech I made, is full of pleading for the recognition of lead poisoning as a real and serious medical problem.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Lead levels exceeding federal thresholds pose a serious public health threat, particularly for more vulnerable populations.
There can be no intelligent control of the lead danger in industry unless it is based on the principle of keeping the air clear from dust and fumes.
From the first I became convinced that what I must look for was lead dust and lead fumes, that men were poisoned by breathing poisoned air, not by handling their food with unwashed hands.
For example, lead paint in old houses can be a greater threat to children's health than lead that may be under some industrial site where there are no children.
I've made sure I am working hard enough to get that lead and keep it there.
I've written books as acts of discovery: things I need to know and that I need to touch. And it's very dangerous work to deal with the most toxic internal elements... I feel like Madame Curie at my computer. I feel like I should be hemorrhaging from my eyes and ears.
We changed every lead in our whole system, and to this day we still don't really know why it did it. We think wires were touching and faulting. That was it really, but it didn't make it any easier.
The old newspaper adage, 'If it bleeds, it leads,' is as true today as it was a century ago.
It was easy to present figures demonstrating the contrast between lead work in the United States under conditions of neglect and ignorance, and comparable work in England and Germany, under intelligent control.
With prurient absorption and only minimal risk, we can pretend to be the subject of the lead article on the front page of the Style section of our local newspaper for as long as it takes to finish our morning coffee.