Public Health Threat from Lead Pipes Known by late 1800s, Lead Industry Kept Pushing Lead Pipes into Mid-Century
In its September 2008 issue, American Journal of Public Health discussed the lead industry’s nearly century-long efforts to persuade federal and local agencies to install lead pipes for drinking water. Following mainstream media reports on lead poisoning and its ties to lead pipes, the lead industry increased its lobbying and media efforts that continued for another half century. The US government defined acceptable lead levels in children only beginning in the 1960s. The 60 µg/dL showed to be far too excessive and belatedly lowered in 1991 to 10 µg/dL. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now considers there to be “no safe blood lead level.”
