Season 1 Episode 19
Plumbum pt.1 - Cause
Overview
Over the next 2 episodes we are looking at lead, what is it, what have been its toxic impacts on humans, what drove the 20th Century global poisoning and what are we finally doing about it. There is so much literature and so many studies have been done on this moment in our very recent history, that we are going to reference and just read for many of the publications as we feel these episodes are not for relooking at this, but just bring as many bits together so we can hopefully impress on you how destructive this has been to humans, humanity and how it still leaves a legacy with us today and the significant ways it has contributed to our current social erosion.
Recommended reading and listening
The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong - The Constant
The fatal attraction of lead - BBC News
"American Poison: A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice" by Daniel Stone (2025): Chronicles the story of Alice Hamilton, a public health activist, in her fight against Thomas Midgley Jr., the inventor of leaded gasoline. It explores the corporate machinations, scientific history, and the environmental impact of TEL.
"Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution" by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner (2002): A detailed account of how the lead industry concealed evidence regarding the health hazards of tetraethyl lead and lead-based paint. It uses formerly secret industry documents to show how corporations pushed for the adoption of leaded gasoline despite knowing its toxicity.
"Toxic Truth: A Scientist, a Doctor, and the Battle over Lead" by Lydia Denworth (2008): Focuses on the scientific and public battle to remove lead from gasoline and paint, highlighting the roles of Clair Patterson (who identified the extent of lead contamination) and Dr. Herbert Needleman.
"Brush with Death: A Social History of Lead Poisoning" by Christian Warren (2001): Provides a comprehensive history of lead poisoning in the United States, examining the transition from early, acute occupational poisoning to the long-term, chronic, low-level exposure caused by tetraethyl lead in gasoline.
"Ethyl: A History of the Corporation and the People Who Made It" by Joseph C. Robert (1983): A detailed, sometimes pro-industry, account of the Ethyl Corporation, the company formed to manufacture and market tetraethyl lead, tracking its history from the 1920s to the 1960s.
"Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children" by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner (2013): Follows up on Deceit and Denial to examine the continuing, bitter, and contentious battles over lead contamination and the public health policies that failed to adequately protect children.
"Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World" by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne (2000): Features a chapter on Thomas Midgley Jr. and the invention of leaded gasoline, exploring the tension between its industrial utility and its environmental destructiveness.
"Leaded: The Poisoning of Idaho's Silver Valley" by Michael Mix (2016): Documents the toxic history of industrial lead pollution and the regulatory struggles surrounding it.
"The Secret History of Lead" by Jamie Lincoln Kitman (2000): Originally published in The Nation, this in-depth investigative article (often cited as a "secret history") brought widespread attention to the negligence of manufacturers in the development of leaded gas.
Sources:
Facts and Firsts of Lead
The Man Who Warned the World About Lead | NOVA | PBS
Can the lifelong effects of childhood lead exposure ever be reversed? | FIU Research Magazine - Florida International University
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