Getting the lead out
One of the claims made about Bjorn Lomborg and his book The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press, 2001) is that he was unable to disprove the late professor of business administration Julian Simon. I am not sure what part of Simon's writings Lomborg was trying to disprove, but on several issues their views contrast markedly. One of these areas is lead pollution.
Simon
Simon includes lead pollution in his list of "definitely disproven threats" in The Ultimate Resource 2, a book Lomborg cites a number of times. (page 263):
1979 Lead ingestion by children lowers IQ. Study by Herbert Needleman led to the federal ban on leaded gasoline. Study entirely repudiated in 1994. No mention of again allowing leaded gasoline has been made, however.
Note how Simon has narrowed the definition of the problem; if lead does not cause lowered IQs then there is no reason to ban it. But there are other problems associated with lead pollution, as we shall see. And while Needleman's work has been controversial, to claim that it has been "entirely repudiated" is a vast overstatement. Even if Needleman's work was faulty, a number of other researchers have found similar results. Also, lead in gasoline interferes with the pollution control devices in automobiles. (Strangely, Simon listed lead in gasoline as one of the environmental problems in the then Soviet Union (page 248). Apparently the effects of pollution are influenced by the political system in use.)
Lomborg
Lomborg considers lead to be the second worst type of air pollution, and gives a number of problems caused by lead . (Some of the exposure comes from old lead paint and other non-gasoline related sources.) (pages 170-171):
It has been known for a long time that high concentrations of lead in the bloodstream can cause cramps, coma, and death. But only within the last 20 years have we become clearly aware of some of the serious consequences stemming from even very small intakes of lead. Unborn children are particularly exposed. Studies have shown a rise in miscarriages if either or both partners have been exposed to lead in their workplaces. Lead can reduce men's fertility and doubles the risk of women giving birth to retarded children. In the USA, some 12,000-16,000 children each year are admitted to hospital with lead posining; 200 of them die and 30 percent of survivors suffer permanent injury, becoming mentally retarded or paralyzed.Large-scale studies of children with varying concentrations of lead in their blood have shown that it has a substantial effect on their IQ - children with high concentrations are quite simply less intelligent, do not concentrate as wellsnd are more restless than children with low concentrations of lead. Lead can also cause hypertension in adult men...
Globally about 90 percent of lead emissions comes from lead added to petrol, even though leaded petrol represents 2.2 percent of total lead consumption...
The US EPA estimates considerable benefits from this dramatic decline in lead pollution. It is estimated that about 22,000 deaths are avoided every year, which is about 1 percent of all deaths. Because many of those who would have died were children the average extra lifetime involved is as much as 38 years...It is also estimated that in the US, children will on average avoid losing up to three IQ--points with lower lead levels and that 45,000 fewer retarded children will be born. Finally, about 12 million fewer men will get hypertension.
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NEW Additional reading:
When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution, Devra Davis, Basic Books, 2002. There are only a few tales of deception, still the book is well worth reading as it gives the scientific basis for pollution control.
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, University of California Press, 2002. A look at how first the lead industry, in the form of the lead paint and leaded gasoline industries, and then the plastics industry, in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) makers and users, deceived the government, workers and the public.
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Written by Jim Norton
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