"In the early twentieth century lead had many domestic uses: in solder for cans, as a gasoline additive to prevent ""knocking"" in engines, in water pipes, and, most prominently, in interior paint prized for its durability and ability to hold color. Far from being the toxic hazard we recognize today, lead was a valuable commodity. However, by the end of the century, lead had largely disappeared from our environment as physicians discovered the threat it posed to children's health and mental development. Old Paint documents the history of lead-paint poisoning in the United States and the evolving responses of public health officials and the lead-paint industry to this hazard up to 1980, by which time lead had been banned from gasoline and paint. Peter C. English traces lead poisoning from a rare, but acute problem confined to a small group of children to the discovery by the end of the 1940s of the dangers of the crumbling lead-painted interiors of inner-city dwellings. He draws on a wide range of primary materials not only to illuminate our understanding of how this health hazard changed over time, but also to explore how diseases are constructed and evolve."
By:
Peter C. English
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 242mm,
Width: 164mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 539g
ISBN: 9780813529875
ISBN 10: 0813529875
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 01 September 2001
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Preface Prologue Part I Lead Poisoning before 1920 Chapter 1 Children and Lead before 1920 Chapter 2 The Queensland Epidemic Chapter 3 The Scientific Study of the American Workplace Chapter 4 Lead Hazards, Lead Safety, and Alice Hamilton Part II Gnawing Toddlers Chapter 5 Children and the Lead Industries Association, 1925–1935 Chapter 6 Baltimore, Boston, and Robert Kehoe, 1930–1940 Part III Peeling and Flaking Paint Chapter 7 A 1950s Transformation Chapter 8 The Urban Ecology Chapter 9 New Therapies Part IV Industry and Public Health Responses Chapter 10 One Percent Lead Content for Paint Chapter 11 Urban Lead Programs of the 1950s and 1960s Chapter 12 Children and Lead, 1960–1965 Part V The New Ecology Chapter 13 A “Submerged” National Epidemic Chapter 14 Air Pollution and an Epidemic Redefined Chapter 15 Dust, Dirt, and Mouthing in 1980 Epilogue Notes Index Contents
PETER C. ENGLISH, M.D. is a professor of history and a professor of pediatrics at Duke University. He is the author of Rheumatic Fever: A Clinical, Scientific, and Epidemiological History (Rutgers University Press).
Reviews for Old Paint: A Medical History of Childhood Lead-Paint Poisoning in the United States to 1980
A compelling history, and a fascinating account of how perceptions of disease change in response to scientific and cultural circumstances. An outstanding, highly recommended book.
