Standing up to the lead industry: an interview with Herbert Needleman. Interview by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz.

Author: Needleman H.

Source: Public Health Rep.

Year: 2005

Comment:

This interview with Dr. Herbert Needleman sheds light on the various challenges he faced when sharing information about the hazards of lead.  In the interview, he states, "We have developed no adaptive biological mechanism for lead, which has no purpose at all in the body. Nobody has ever been able to discover an enzyme that is activated or influenced by lead. There is no biological function, so any amount is going to be deleterious."

Abstract / Excerpt:

“In the quarter century since ‘Deficits in Psychologic and Classroom Performance of Children with Elevated Dentine Lead Levels’ was published, Philip Landrigan, John Rosen, Bruce Lanphear, Kim Dietrich, and others have built on Needleman’s work, confirming his findings as well as opening new areas of research that have shown that lead, at virtually any level, has negative, life-altering consequences for children. This interview, conducted on the eve of his 75th birthday, recounts a small part of Herb Needleman’s experiences over the course of the last half century.”

Citation:

Needleman H. Standing up to the lead industry: an interview with Herbert Needleman. Interview by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz. Public Health Rep. 2005; 120(3):330-7.