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The Svenskhuset Tragedy was an event in the winter of 1872–73 where seventeen men died in an isolated house on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The cause of death was long believed to be scurvy, [1] but research done in 2008 has revealed that the men probably suffered lead poisoning. Svenskehuset is today preserved as a cultural heritage site. [1]
Thomas Midgley Jr. (May 18, 1889 – November 2, 1944) was an American mechanical and chemical engineer.He played a major role in developing leaded gasoline (tetraethyl lead) and some of the first chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known in the United States by the brand name Freon; both products were later banned from common use due to their harmful impact on human health and the environment.
On July 30, 2020, a report by UNICEF and Pure Earth revealed that lead poisoning is affecting children on a "massive and previously unknown scale". According to the report, one in three children, up to 800 million globally, have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per decilitre (μg/dL), which is the commonly-accepted threshold beyond ...
Lead poisoning is especially hazardous to children under six years of age. [8] High levels of lead at this age can produce impaired neurological development that results in lifelong problems. A 1996 study showed 43% of children ages 1–5 in the Superfund area had blood lead concentrations above the threshold considered dangerous by federal ...
Despite knowledge of lead's toxicity, there is a long history of using lead in paint due to its role in maintaining a paint's color and increasing durability. In 1951, Baltimore was the first city to ban the use of lead paint in new housing, starting a move towards abating the amount of lead use in homes.
The Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) is an international non-governmental organization aimed at reducing lead exposure in low and middle income countries. [1] Based in London, England , it was founded in 2020 to promote research and advocacy on the prevalence and consequences of lead poisoning in the developing world. [ 1 ]
Lead poisoning epidemics refer to specific instances of mass lead poisoning. These events often occur without the knowledge of the communities they affect. Common causes of lead poisoning epidemics include mining, lead recycling, and food/water contamination. [1] These events also cause disproportionate childhood fatalities as children are more ...
Tyson notes how lead does not naturally occur at Earth's surface but has been readily mined by humans (including the Roman Empire), and that lead is poisonous to humans. Patterson examined the levels of lead in the common environment and in deeper parts of the oceans and Antarctic ice, showing that lead had only been brought to the surface in ...