Essay on The Lead Wars
- Who were the two sides of the case that’s introduced in the first chapter and what was the case about?
The case involved the Kennedy Krieger Institute and two African American children and their families, since two researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute conducted the experiment to study the impact of lead on the two African American children. The case was about the unethical behavior of researchers, who exposed their subjects to the threat by exposing them to the impact of lead, although they were aware of its possible negative impact on their health.
- What does the CDC say is a level of concern for blood lead levels? How has that number changed? How many children are currently at risk, based on their blood lead levels?
The blood lead level was excessive in children involved in the experiment that caused the steady deterioration of their health in the course of the experiment and influenced their further life. However, the number of children exposed to the risk of lead impact has decreased due to tighter government regulations and growing public pressure.
- What are some of the symptoms of acute lead poisoning?
Symptoms of the acute lead poisoning involve muscle pains, fatigue, abdominal ache, headache, nausea and vomiting, seizures and in the most serious cases coma.
- What are some common sources of lead poisoning?
The common sources of lead poisoning are plumbing and water supply, especially if water is contaminated with lead because of the close location of sources of the pollution. Moreover, lead may be found in soil, home dust, toys, traditional cosmetics and other sources. In such a way, lead may be found in many items people use or are exposed to in their regular life.
- What are some of the symptoms of chronic, low-dose lead poisoning?
Symptoms of chronic, low-dose lead poisoning include loss of short-term memory or concentration, depression, nausea, fatigue, problems with sleep, frequent headaches. Children with chronic, low-dose lead poisoning may refuse to play and tend to aggressive or hyperkinetic behavior. These symptoms may have different manifestations and some of them may be more distinct than others depending on the dose and the time of the exposure to the impact of lead.
- Explain the Kennedy Krier Institute lead study. Who was it studying and how was it studying them? What was the problem with the study that caused all the controversy? What are our society’s concerns about research involving human subjects?
In case of the Kennedy Krier Institute lead study two African American children were studied. They were exposed to a different dose of lead in their home environment, whereas the researchers measured changes in their health by regular examination and tests. Researchers measured the level of lead in their blood, observed their behavior, examined their health condition and assessed changes that occurred to participants of the study. The exposure of children to the impact of lead has had the negative impact on their health that has triggered the major controversy of the study, especially after the court’s ruling that took the side of the researchers, who actually led two children to the development of chronic health problems caused by their exposure to the impact of lead. In such a way, the issue of the correlation between the safety of human subjects and scientific needs emerged in society, which grows more and more concerned with safety of scientific experiments, which though are essential for the scientific progress and naturally are accompanied to certain risks to subjects’ health.
- What role did community activist organizations take in reducing the impact of lead on the U.S. population?
Community activist organizations push on the government and companies to decrease the impact of lead on the US population. They inform the public of the danger of lead and force the government to enhance environmental legislation. They also push on companies to decrease the exposure of the population to the impact of lead. In fact, community activist organizations stand for interests of local communities and attempt to defend needs of the local population to secure their position and prevent the risk of the development of numerous health problems due to the exposure of the population to the impact of lead.
- What was researcher Robert Kehoe’s argument behind his position that environmental lead was perfectly safe? What was the opposing viewpoint of researcher Clair C. Patterson?
Kehoe stood on the ground that people are exposed to numerous risk factors along with lead that may cause the development of serious health problems, whereas Patterson viewed lead as the primary cause of those health problems. Therefore, they view the problem of the lead impact on the population from different scientific perspectives. As a result, they naturally arrive to different views on the impact of lead on health of people.
- Why do the authors think that attempts to regulate the amount of lead in our environment have been less successful then efforts to stop other epidemics? What are the economic problems? What are the political problems?
The regulation of the amount of lead in environment can decrease the risk of the development of serious health problems that will have a positive economic impact because it will reduce spending on health services and improve the public health. However, politically this decision is difficult because it causes costly changes in many industries. In fact, the major political problem is the lack of adequate resources that are essential for the protection of the population, while the introduction of strict regulatory policies may cause the downturn in the economic development of the country and decline of business activities because companies have to spend more resources on the environment and population safety than into their business development.
- How did the Bush administration in the early 2000s directly affect the independence of public health science? What about epidemiology–a field that, in some ways, is restricted to natural experimentation just as environmental science is–makes it vulnerable to that sort of attack?
The increased role of the government in epidemiological and public health control has decreased the role of public health science as an independent body. As a result, the government has started to play the main part in the epidemiologic management and public health policies. The increased role of government in the development of regulatory public health policies has raised the problem of the decreasing public control over epidemiologic situation and public health.
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