Lead Industries Association

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The Lead Industries Association (LIA) was a trade organization that in 1925 made it possible for tetraethyllead to be an additive of commercial gasoline [1] and later incorporated in 1928 to promote the interests of the lead industry. [2] [3] The National Lead Institute was a predecessor of the Lead Industries Association. [4] [5] [6] The association lobbied to lift bans on, and promote the use of, lead pipes. [7] The association also promoted lead-based paints, which became the subject of a poisoning lawsuit filed against paint manufacturers. [8] In 1958, the LIA and the American Zinc Institute founded an organization with a similar mission that outlasted the LIA, the International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO). [9] In 2002, the Lead Industries Association of Sparta, NJ, went bankrupt and defunct citing that they were unable to get insurance to cover the litigation against them. [10] [11] [12]

Richard Schweiker's 1972 testimony in the US Congressional record includes a transcript of a segment that aired January 28, 1972, on the NBC Chronolog program concerning lead poisoning. [13] The ILZRO wrote a memo refuting information presented in that show. [14]

The LIA unsuccessfully attempted to make Ronald G. Stevens of Long Island Film Studios remove statements about lead in gasoline and from industrial pollution affecting children regardless of socioeconomic status from a 10-minute film titled Lead Poisoning, The Hidden Epidemic that won a 1972 Silver Medal from the New York Film Festival. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

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References

  1. Silbergeld, Ellen (February 1995). "Annotation: Protection of the Public Interest, Allegations of Scientific Misconduct, and the Needleman Case". American Journal of Public Health. 85 (2): 165–166. doi:10.2105/AJPH.85.2.165. PMC   1615323 . PMID   7856774. LIA's greatest triumph was in 1925, when it overrode opposition to the introduction of tetraethyl lead as a gasoline additive
  2. Rabin, Richard (2008). "The Lead Industry and Lead Water Pipes "A MODEST CAMPAIGN"". American Journal of Public Health. 98 (9): 1584–1592. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.113555. PMC   2509614 . PMID   18633098.
  3. Zhorov, Irina (February 29, 2016). "How We Ended Up With Lead Piping And Why Removing It Will Be Hard". WESA . Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  4. Silbergeld, Ellen (January 1996). "Silbergeld Responds". American Journal of Public Health. 86 (1): 115. doi:10.2105/ajph.86.1.115. PMC   1380383 . PMID   8561232. Although the Lead Industries Association (LIA), which Smith directs, was not itself involved in these and other activities, its predecessor, the National Lead Institute, was active in obscuring the hazards of lead.
  5. Peter Reich (June 1992). The Hour of Lead (PDF) (Report). Environmental Defense Fund. p. 14. Retrieved December 19, 2019. ... National Lead Institute ... Apparently a predecessor of the Lead Industries Association.
  6. "Open Price Idea Grows". Paint, Oil and Drug Review. April 3, 1918. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  7. Smith, Heather (June 22, 2018). "The Lead Poisoning in Flint Points to a Nationwide Problem". Sierra Club. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  8. Newsline, Legal (November 14, 2017). "Lead Paint Makers Lose Another Round In Long-Running, $1.1 Billion California Lawsuit". Forbes. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  9. Kitman, Jamie Lincoln (March 2, 2001). "The Secret History of Lead". The Nation. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  10. Rogers, Jim (2004). Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market . Random House Publishing Group. p.  170. ISBN   9781588364470.
  11. Smith, Gerald R. (2002). "Lead in April 2002" (PDF). USGS Mineral Industry Surveys. USGS. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  12. "The World of Lead - The Lead Industries Association". Lead Info. 2002. Archived from the original on November 24, 2002. Retrieved October 31, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. Schweiker, Richard (February 7, 1972). "Congressional Record -- Senate" (PDF). US Government Publish Office. pp. 2813–2817. Retrieved March 28, 2021. My interest in this matter was stimulated further by a recent NBC television program, Chronolog," which did a special report on the hazards of lead to humans from these products.
  14. Cole, Jerome F. (February 10, 1972). "NBC Chronolog Program" (PDF). Toxic Docs . International Lead Zinc Research Organization. Retrieved March 28, 2021. We went over the transcript page by page and I want to point out to you, just in general, the points which were brought up in our discussions and also the points you may want to use in backing up any argument with NBC.
  15. "Handwritten, proposed edits to script, undated" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Lead Industries Association. Retrieved March 28, 2021. 1. strike through lead attacks black.. .white... rich... poor and replace with the poor whether black or white; 2. strike through Lead fallout from industrial waste and auto exhausts; 3. strike through From polluted air and soil where exhaust fumes and industrial wastes have settled and replace with From their food and from the air but these are relatively unimportant compared to old paint
  16. Stevens, Ronald G. (July 28, 1972). "Letter to Jerome F. Smith" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Long Island Film Studios. Retrieved March 28, 2021. The narration change that Dr.'s Harrison and Cole have agreed to, will require re-writing paragraph six in the present narration to eliminate the reference made to lead content in the auto exhausts that your Association feels is misleading
  17. Smith, Jerome F. (August 2, 1972). "Letter to Ronald G. Stevens" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Lead Industries Association. Retrieved March 28, 2021. This is an excellent movie and with the proposed change in Paragraph 6—which will eliminate the reference to lead in automotive exhausts-—we think this film will find wide acceptance in the health field.
  18. Smith, Jerome F. (August 31, 1972). "Letter to Ronald G. Stevens" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Lead Industries Association. Retrieved March 28, 2021. I regret that you cannot see your way clear to make the changes we suggested in your movie, "Lead Poisoning, The Hidden Epidemic."
  19. Stevens, Ronald G. (November 1, 1972). "Letter to Jerome F. Smith" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Long Island Film Studios. Retrieved March 28, 2021. One of the overriding reasons we had to decline your offer was due to the objections of several National Health Organizations that had endorsed the film in its present version. ... One further comment regarding the film an Lead Poisoning--The Hidden Epidemic, we have just been awarded the New York International Film Festival's 1972 Silver Medal.
  20. Cole, Jerome F. (November 17, 1972). "Letter to Ronald G. Stevens" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Lead Industries Association. Retrieved March 28, 2021. We were most surprised that you, with the advice of Dr. Dorothy Harrison would not accept our criticisms of the film and refused to make alterations which would have made the film such more effective. ... You have our congratulations for winning the 1972 Silver Medal, awarded from the New York International Film Festival.
  21. Smith, Jerome F. (May 10, 1973). "Promotional Brochure on Film About Lead Poisoning" (PDF). Toxic Docs . Lead Industries Association. Retrieved March 28, 2021. About six Months ago, the Association was asked to review this film, which we did. In the main it was well done although it does contain one brief, misleading segment that attempts to establish a relationship between lead in the air due to automotive gasoline antiknocks and childhood lead poisoning.
  22. Canzler, Lillian (May 1, 1974). "Films and Filmstrips on Early Childhood" (PDF). Education Resources Information Center . Washington Center for Early Childhood Education. Retrieved March 28, 2021. Lead Poisoning: The Hidden Epidemic - 10 min color