The Center for Policy Studies' Public Affairs Discussion Group will host Schubert Center Faculty Associate Rob Fischer to discuss research about lead poisoning and prevention, potential responses to early childhood lead exposure, and how public policy has (and has not) incorporated the research into best practices. The discussion will be held virtually; it is free and open to the community.
The cognitive and other health consequences of lead exposure and poisoning have been known for decades. Since 1975, new cars have been manufactured with catalytic converters that required lead-free gasoline. The use of lead-based paint in homes has been banned since 1978. Yet developmental consequences of early childhood lead exposure, mainly from the dust of lead-based paint that was painted over decades ago, remain a major public health problem, especially in impoverished areas of central cities. This has resulted in a pattern known as the "poison to prison pipeline."
Fischer and Schubert Faculty Associate Claudia Colton recently documented the Downstream Consequences of Early Childhood Lead Poisoning from a longitudinal study of Cleveland children.
Co-sponsored by the Schubert Center