Event Description
Blood-lead levels have declined dramatically in both Paris and New York over the past 50 years.
This is good news because early-life exposure to lead has been clearly been implicated in increased likelihood of diminished intellectual function in children, learning and behavioral difficulties at school, juvenile detention, as well as reduced income and cardio-vascular disease later in life. The decline in lead exposure in both cities is primarily the result of bans on the use of lead-based paint in the 1970s and the phasing out of lead additives to gasoline in the subsequent decade. This doesn’t mean avoidable lead exposure of children has ended in both cities or elsewhere around the world. A significant number of children still ingest chips of old lead-based paint, play in areas where soil is contaminated with legacy lead from gasoline and other sources, or drink water supplied by lead pipes.
The goal of this workshop is to review progress made in Paris and New York to reduce lead exposure in recent decades and the extent to which continued exposure could and should be reduced further.
Event Speakers
Please visit the event webpage for full speaker list.
Event Information
Free and open to the public; registration required. For more information, please visit the event webpage or email Lex van Geen at [email protected].
Hosted by the Institute for Ideas and Imagination at Columbia University.
