Today there is a one woman campaign against lead in consumer products by Tamara Rubin. [1] Unfortunately she doesn't know how to make a professional looking website and doesn't have a degree as a doctor (which would be of no value in her endeavor- operating an XRF tester and posting the results). She is however trained and certified in performing XRF tests and has probably done more XRF testing of consumer products than any other human being. Her testing has been verified independently when the CPI initiated recalls of for example baby bottles after her initial reporting.
I found her information after one of my children tested high for lead levels even though there are no lead paint issues in our neighborhood.
The highest risk for severe lead contamination is still things from our past. Painting can still be dangerous- some houses still have original lead paint that has been painted on top of or they could have a deck that was painted with marine paint (which is still allowed to have lead). Another higher risk level is antique dishware.
In modern products lead and other heavy metal contamination issues are still somewhat widespread, but thankful at much lower levels than in the past- to the point that most people won't test high for heavy metals. But unfortunately it's possible to accidentally buy the wrong products and get unsafe exposure levels.
We only really have safety standards for products marketed to kids (e.g. baby bottles). If the same level of contamination exists on a small plate that is used by a child, it won't be recalled. For consumers it is often impossible to know if there is heavy metal contamination in a product. California's Prop 65 warning often indicates an issue with lead, but the issue could just be that the company didn't want to bother testing for lead in their product.
I think it is worthwhile to try to transition cookware and drinkware towards materials that are known to almost always be lead and heavy metal free- Stainless steel, cast iron, and clear glass. Additionally, this becomes another reason to eat whole foods since the manufacturing processes can also cause low levels of contamination.
Any chemists here able to comment on the recent lead test kits around? Eg lumetallix.com and detectlead.com. I have one and like it but don’t know how accurate it is.
In the US, crime basically kept increasing until the 1990s and have been on a downward trend ever since. If you've fallen for the modern crime panic, it's completely manufactured. Look at any graph that goes back 40+ years and then tell me what the trend is.
The reason for this is hotly debated.
One theory is that it coincides with being 18 years or so after abortion was legalized [1]. The argument is that not forcing people to be parents who don't want to be and aren't equipped to be as well as this skewing to lower socioeconomic status. The link between poverty and crime has been well-established going back to Ancient Greece. In some ways, this is an uncomfortable argument because it's basically eugenics. In support of this, abortion access varied state-to-state by up to several years and the trends tend to follow that.
But this is a US-specific argument and I believe the trend was present in other countries.
The second big argument is removing lead from gasoline (in particular, but also water because of lead pipes) [2].
I really wonder what societal problems and public health incidents in the future will come down to micro-plastics.
I'm pretty sure a lot of small to y planes use leaded gas....
Correct me if I'm wrong though cuz iv always wondered how bad the fumes would be to a community thats near a busy airport.
Iv always hear jokes about how lead is the miracle element....its great for so many things and pushing efficiency in many areas....but the human body just can't stand it at all.
Getting lead out of our environments (housing stock, schools, etc) would do wonders to improving quality of life for so many people globally. Not just for those directly poisoned by it. [1]
Allison Hayes is another person who campaigned against lead--this time in vitamin supplements--which lead to a change in FDA rules. She was a frequent actor in Roger Corman's B-movies which is where I first encountered her. She suffered disability from the lead in Calcium supplements.
> “Many times … I met men who employed foreign-born labor because it was cheap and submissive, and then washed their hands of all responsibility,” she wrote. “They deliberately chose such men because it meant … a surplus of eager, undemanding labor.”
> She broke gender barriers in the broader sciences that opened stodgy male-dominated fields to women. And her approach to social justice—combining evidence-based research, interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement—remains the blueprint for nearly all public health and policy fights today, from the smallest neighborhood disputes to global battles over pollution, natural resources and climate change.
You might say that we all follow her lead. (She led the way)
If this was today people would say it's your personal right to consume lead and use leaded gas (aka freedom fuel) and we'd never be able to remove it lol
The whole lead poisoning scandals are really great examples of how capitalism/free markets have serious limits to what they can achieve. They should should be seen as a useful tool to help make certain markets more efficient and not as an ideology to embraced without limitations.
Even when consumers understood that leaded petrol for example was contaminating the air and water with carcinogens that harmed many many people especially babies and small children the market still had demanded leaded petrol and that demand was catered to by companies making huge profits and scientists deemed that there was no safe threshold.
It's been speculated that the fall of the Roman Empire can be partially attributed to prevalence of lead pipes and leaded drinking vessels. When a critical mass of elites/rulers have lead poisoning there was a subsequent collapse of those societies.
In short it's basically a national security issue even if it does make fuel cheaper and more effective.
I still wonder about all the hobbiests, including occasionally myself who might not be treating leaded solder with the caution it deserves. I use unleaded solder but I also fix older gear.
Robert Kehoe, working for GM, was the chief advocate for leaded gasoline, and really the only person/lab doing research on lead until Clair Patterson stumbled into it while measuring the age of the earth. [0,1]
A modern equivalent might be if Facebook was the only organization researching social media's impact on society, while being able to set the paradigm/assumptions about said safety for half a century.
So even when Patterson's research was published in 1965, it took time to change the paradigm, and more time to phase out lead's use.
Should anyone want to read a narrative about the intertwined lives of Midgley, Patterson, Kehoe and lead, then this Mental Floss article is a good read. [2]
What about the use of lead in car batteries? Even if there are requirements for recycling, it is still a burden for the environment and the people that have to deal with the material is its various stages.
Alice Hamilton waged a one-woman campaign to get the lead out of everything
(smithsonianmag.com)416 points by Hooke 18 February 2025 | 169 comments
Comments
I found her information after one of my children tested high for lead levels even though there are no lead paint issues in our neighborhood.
The highest risk for severe lead contamination is still things from our past. Painting can still be dangerous- some houses still have original lead paint that has been painted on top of or they could have a deck that was painted with marine paint (which is still allowed to have lead). Another higher risk level is antique dishware.
In modern products lead and other heavy metal contamination issues are still somewhat widespread, but thankful at much lower levels than in the past- to the point that most people won't test high for heavy metals. But unfortunately it's possible to accidentally buy the wrong products and get unsafe exposure levels.
We only really have safety standards for products marketed to kids (e.g. baby bottles). If the same level of contamination exists on a small plate that is used by a child, it won't be recalled. For consumers it is often impossible to know if there is heavy metal contamination in a product. California's Prop 65 warning often indicates an issue with lead, but the issue could just be that the company didn't want to bother testing for lead in their product.
I think it is worthwhile to try to transition cookware and drinkware towards materials that are known to almost always be lead and heavy metal free- Stainless steel, cast iron, and clear glass. Additionally, this becomes another reason to eat whole foods since the manufacturing processes can also cause low levels of contamination.
[1] https://tamararubin.com/
Had some leaded Pyrex among other things
The reason for this is hotly debated.
One theory is that it coincides with being 18 years or so after abortion was legalized [1]. The argument is that not forcing people to be parents who don't want to be and aren't equipped to be as well as this skewing to lower socioeconomic status. The link between poverty and crime has been well-established going back to Ancient Greece. In some ways, this is an uncomfortable argument because it's basically eugenics. In support of this, abortion access varied state-to-state by up to several years and the trends tend to follow that.
But this is a US-specific argument and I believe the trend was present in other countries.
The second big argument is removing lead from gasoline (in particular, but also water because of lead pipes) [2].
I really wonder what societal problems and public health incidents in the future will come down to micro-plastics.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_e...
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
Correct me if I'm wrong though cuz iv always wondered how bad the fumes would be to a community thats near a busy airport.
Iv always hear jokes about how lead is the miracle element....its great for so many things and pushing efficiency in many areas....but the human body just can't stand it at all.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_Hayes
Interesting parallels to today...
Unfortunately, lead mining today is pretty much stable[1], with only slight decreases in production volumes.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/264871/production-of-lea...
See: - https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas...
- https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/dan...
... or just use the search engine of your choice.
You might say that we all follow her lead. (She led the way)
One in Four US Households Likely Exceed New Soil Lead Guidance Levels
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GH00...
Even when consumers understood that leaded petrol for example was contaminating the air and water with carcinogens that harmed many many people especially babies and small children the market still had demanded leaded petrol and that demand was catered to by companies making huge profits and scientists deemed that there was no safe threshold.
It's been speculated that the fall of the Roman Empire can be partially attributed to prevalence of lead pipes and leaded drinking vessels. When a critical mass of elites/rulers have lead poisoning there was a subsequent collapse of those societies.
In short it's basically a national security issue even if it does make fuel cheaper and more effective.
> Two beliefs became entrenched:
1. that lead is natural to the human body, and
2. that a poisoning threshold for lead existed
Robert Kehoe, working for GM, was the chief advocate for leaded gasoline, and really the only person/lab doing research on lead until Clair Patterson stumbled into it while measuring the age of the earth. [0,1]
A modern equivalent might be if Facebook was the only organization researching social media's impact on society, while being able to set the paradigm/assumptions about said safety for half a century.
So even when Patterson's research was published in 1965, it took time to change the paradigm, and more time to phase out lead's use.
Should anyone want to read a narrative about the intertwined lives of Midgley, Patterson, Kehoe and lead, then this Mental Floss article is a good read. [2]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Kehoe
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Cameron_Patterson#Campai...
[2] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94569/clair-patterson-sc...