Brush with death : a social history of lead poisoning

Winner of the Arthur Viseltear Award for Outstanding Book in the History of Public Health from the American Public Health AssociationSelected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title During the twentieth century, lead poisoning killed thousands of workers and children in the United States. Thousands who survived lead poisoning were left physically crippled or were robbed of mental faculties and years of life. In Brush with Death , social historian Christian Warren offers the first comprehensive history of lead poisoning in the United States. Focusing on lead paint and leaded gasoline, Warren distinguishes three primary modes of exposure―occupational, pediatric, and environmental. This threefold perspective permits a nuanced exploration of the regulatory mechanisms, medical technologies, and epidemiological tools that arose in response to lead poisoning. Today, many children undergo aggressive "deleading" treatments when their blood-lead levels are well below the average blood-lead levels found in urban children in the 1950s. Warren links the repeated redefinition of lead poisoning to changing attitudes toward health, safety, and risk. The same changes that transformed the social construction of lead poisoning also transformed medicine and health care, giving rise to modern environmentalism and fundamentally altered jurisprudence. In Brush With Death, Social Historian Christian Warren Offers The First Comprehensive History Of Lead Poisoning In The United States. Focusing On Lead Paint And Leaded Gasoline, Warren Distinguishes Three Primary Modes Of Exposure - Occupational, Pediatric And Environmental. This Threefold Perspective Permits A Nuanced Exploration Of The Regulatory Mechanisms, Medical Technologies, And Epidemiological Tools That Arose In Response To Lead Poisoning.--jacket. Introduction : What's Lead In The Bone ... -- 1. Plumbing The Depths -- 2. Childhood Lead Poisoning Before 1930 -- 3. Toxic Purity : How The United States Became A Nation Of White-leaders -- 4. Occupational Lead Poisoning In The Progressive Era -- 5. Protecting Workers And Profits In The Lead Industries -- 6. Company Doctors On The Job -- 7. Introducing Leaded Gasoline -- 8. Defining Childhood Lead Poisoning As A Disease Of Poverty -- 9. Urban Physicians Discover The Silent Epidemic -- 10. The Screaming Epidemic -- 11. Facing The Consequences Of Leaded Gasoline -- 12. The Rise And Fall Of Universal Childhood Lead Screening -- 13. Regulating Low-level Lead Poisoning -- Appendix: Reports On Lead Poisoning. Christian Warren. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [263]-348) And Index. During the twentieth century, lead poisoning killed thousands of workers and children in the United States. Thousands who survived lead poisoning were left physically crippled or were robbed of mental faculties and years of life. In Brush with Death, social historian Christian Warren offers the first comprehensive history of lead poisoning in the United States. Focusing on lead paint and leaded gasoline, Warren distinguishes three primary modes of exposure -- occupational, pediatric, and environmental. This threefold perspective permits a nuanced exploration of the regulatory mechanisms, medical technologies, and epidemiological tools that arose in response to lead poisoning.Because of profound shifts in the definition of childhood lead poisoning, children today undergo aggressive "deleading" treatments when their blood-lead levels reach one-third of the average blood-lead levels for urban children in the 1950s. Warren links the repeated redefinition of lead poisoning to changing attitudes toward health, safety, and risk. The same changes that transformed the social construction of lead poisoning also transformed medicine and health care, gave rise to modern environmentalism, and fundamentally altered jurisprudence. Frontmatter List of Figures and Tables (page ix) Acknowledgments (page xi) INTRODUCTION What's Lead in the Bone (page 1) ONE Plumbing the Depths (page 13) TWO Childhood Lead Poisoning before 1930 (page 27) THREE Toxic Purity: How the United States Became a Nation of White-Leaders (page 44) FOUR Occupational Lead Poisoning in the Progressive Era (page 64) FIVE Protecting Workers and Profits in the Lead Industries (page 84) SIX Company Doctors on the Job (page 101) SEVEN Introducing Leaded Gasoline (page 116) EIGHT Defining Childhood Lead Poisoning as a Disease of Poverty (page 134) NINE Urban Physicians Discover the Silent Epidemic (page 152) TEN The Screaming Epidemic (page 178) ELEVEN Facing the Consequences of Leaded Gasoline (page 203) TWELVE The Rise and Fall of Universal Childhood Lead Screening (page 224) THIRTEEN Regulating "Low-Level" Lead Poisoning (page 244) APPENDIX Reports on Lead Poisoning (page 259) Notes (page 263) Index (page 349) Five thousand years ago, ancient metallurgists separated lead from silver.