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Toxic truth : a scientist, a doctor, and the battle over lead

Title: Toxic truth : a scientist, a doctor, and the battle over lead / Lydia Denworth.
Author: Denworth, Lydia, 1966-
Publication: Boston : Beacon Press, [2008], ©2008.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	RA1231.L4 D46 2008	Off-site

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Details

Description

xx, 249 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"They didn't start out as environmental warriors. Clair Patterson was a geochemist focused on determining the age of the Earth. Herbert Needleman was a pediatrician treating inner-city children. But in the chemistry lab and the hospital ward, they met a common enemy: lead. It was literally everywhere - in gasoline and paint, of course, but also in water pipes and food cans, toothpaste tubes and toys, ceramics and cosmetics, jewelry and batteries. Though few people worried about it at the time, lead was also toxic." "In Toxic Truth, journalist Lydia Denworth tells the little-known stories of these two men who were among the first to question the wisdom of filling the world with such a harmful metal. Denworth follows them from the ice and snow of Antarctica to the school-yards of Philadelphia and Boston as they uncovered the enormity of the problem and demonstrated the irreparable harm lead was doing to children. In heated conferences and courtrooms, the halls of Congress and at the Environmental Protection Agency, the scientist and doctor were forced to defend their careers and reputations in the face of incredible industry opposition." "The fundamental questions raised by this battle - what constitutes disease, how to measure scientific independence, and how to quantify acceptable risk - echo in every environmental issue of today: from the plastic used to make water bottles to greenhouse gas emissions. And the most basic question - how much do we need to know about what we put in our environment - is perhaps more relevant today than it has ever been."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-227) and index.

Contents

Ch. 1. Every Conceivable Source -- Ch. 2. The Faces of the Children -- Ch. 3. That Nut at Caltech -- Ch. 4. Proof of Principle -- Ch. 5. A Majority of One -- Ch. 6. Reluctant to Relent -- Ch. 7. What Have We Done? -- Ch. 8. A Professional Death Sentence.

ISBN

9780807000328 (hardcover : alk. paper)
0807000329 (hardcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

2008021017

OCLC

ocn227574591
227574591
SCSB-5466356

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries