A Public Conversation On Eliminating Lead Poisoning in 2022 took place 12/9/21 at Boston University, as a project of the class Research for Environmental Agencies and Organizations. It was defined as “A gathering based on the concept that lead poisoning does not belong in a civilized society, devoted to the question: What do we do, now, to achieve the elimination of the unnecessary plague of lead poisoning? That the harm is preventable is well understood. How do we put that principle into practice? The work of recent scholarship has shown the value of relevant investments, but this has only begun to result in political action. The problem presents itself in a spectrum of sources, and we have only partially acted to prevent lead from continuing to enter our environment.”
AGENDA: 12:30 – Welcome from Organizers Rick Reibstein (Instructor) and Peri Taubman (Student).
Keynote: Dr. Phillip Landrigan, Director, Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good, and the Global Observatory on Pollution and Health, Boston College.
12:50 – 1:40 Action by Municipalities: Colleen McCauley, Children First, Philadelphia; Paromita Hore, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and Paul Shoemaker, Boston Public Health Commission
1:40 – 2:30 Bills Currently in the Massachusetts Legislature Addressing Lead: Senator Pat Jehlen, Representative David Leboeuf, Deirdre Cummings, MassPIRG
2:30 – 3:00 National Legislation We Need: David Jacobs, Chief Scientist, National Center for Healthy Housing; Speakers and Discussants
3:00 – 3:20 Funding for Action in Massachusetts: Deborah Brown, former regional EPA lead program chief; Elana Brochin, Program Director for Health Equity, Mass. Assoc. of Community Development Corporations
3:20 – 4:00 Lead in Soil, Shooting Ranges, Wildlife: Howard Mielke, Tulane School of Medicine; Mark Pokras, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Discussants Rick Rabin, MassCOSH, former director, Mass Occupational Lead Poisoning Registry; Ronnie Levin, Harvard School of Public Health, former senior scientist, US Environmental Protection Agency
This event was an initiative of the class Research for Environmental Agencies and Organizations (CAS EE 538). Student projects – many of which have concerned lead, are posted at www.bu.edu/rccp. The event invited recommendations on how we may use the tools of governance to eliminate lead poisoning from our lives: submit ideas by writing Suggestion Box in the subject line of an email to [email protected].