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Thomas v. Mallett7/15/2005
d "undesirable publicity regarding lead poisoning." In 1930, the LIA's Secretary, stated that "of late we have received much undeserved publicity in newspapers damaging to lead products." By 1939, the LIA acknowledged that "the large amount of space given to lead by medical columnists in the daily press by the medical profession, by consumer organizations and by authors of scientific subjects has increased the amount of attention that we have had to give to subject of lead toxicology in 1939." That same year, the LIA initiated its large-scale "White Lead Promotion Campaign." By 1941, the LIA complained that " ead poisoning matters continue to absorb a large amount of time of the Association . . . ." In response to this negative publicity, the Secretary proposed "a program of vigorously investigating each alleged case that arises, taking any remedial steps if necessary, encouraging medical research in lead poisoning, and publishing literature showing the useful role of lead in industry." Through the end of the 1940s, the LIA determined that "the problem of lead hygiene" could be addressed by reassuring the public that lead was safe. Addressing this problem was, in the LIA's own estimation, "one of the most important activities of the Lead Industries Association as there remains an appalling amount of prejudice against the use of lead products based on fancied notions of lead toxicity."
According to Markowitz and Rosner, the LIA's campaign was multi-pronged: it sought to rebut any research findings or other news of lead's toxicity; it sponsored its own research to demonstrate that lead was harmless; and it refused to warn the public of lead's dangers, even in the face of overwhelming evidence from research and clinical findings that many children were dying. All the while, Markowitz and Rosner submit, the LIA promoted the use of lead paint and successfully lobbied against laws and regulations that would curb its use. Although the Pigment Manufacturers, through the LIA, were not actively hiding information regarding the dangers of lead poisoning, particularly in children, they were very well aware of the information, and they were accumulating it.
One of the key voices for the LIA in critiquing the growing scientific literature on the toxicity of lead was that of Dr. Joseph Aub. Prior to the LIA, the lead industry was organized under the American Institute of Lead Manufacturers. The Institute funded medical research on the toxicity of lead at Harvard University under the direction of Aub. The LIA continued that research from 1929-45 to help rebut findings of lead poisoning. Aub's research focused on lead metabolism in adults from occupational exposures, not on child lead poisoning. However, in 1937, during an LIA sponsored confidential conference on lead poisoning for the physicians employed by its member companies (including National Lead, Sherwin-Williams, Glidden, and Anaconda/IS&R), Aub acknowledged the vulnerability of children with respect to lead poisoning.
The LIA attached inestimable importance to Aub's research: "Without the counsel he has given this office and active assistance in some of our lead problems, we would indeed be at a serious disadvantage." Aub was called upon to rebut treating physicians' reports of lead poisoning deaths by providing alternative exculpatory explanations.
In contrast to Aub's downplaying lead paint's hazards, another prominent industry-sponsored researcher, Dr. Robert Kehoe, consistently warned of the hazards lead paint posed to children, although such warnings remained largely confined to private correspondences. Kehoe's research was financed by the Ethyl Corporation, which produced tetraethyl lead for gasoline.
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