-(applause and cheering) -Thank you very much.
Welcome back.
Now, if you thought America's lead crisis was limited
to a single town in Michigan, think again.
The problem in Flint has exposed
a larger lead crisis around the nation.
And the fact is that lead is an epidemic,
and if you're anything like me,
you're wondering how we even got here.
So, luckily, it's time
for a
Take a look.
(clicking)
(upbeat videogame music playing)
MAN:
Fantastic. Glad to hear it.
Okay, time for a
Everybody knows that lead is terrible.
When children ingest even a little bit of lead,
it causes brain damage, seizures, even death.
And death is one of the worst things
that can happen to a child.
Even worse than being forced to wear a onesie
for a band your dad likes.
Hey, dads, babies don't like Wilco.
-(baby crying)
Anyway, lead is terrible, but it's also everywhere.
To find out why we have to travel
all the back back to 1904, Australia.
See, in 1904, Australian investigators
realized that children in lead-painted homes
were showing the same symptoms as sick
factory machinists who worked with lead all day.
Soon the Australians published their findings,
and everybody could read about how dangerous lead was.
(loud gasping)
Cut to 1922 when the League of Nations
tried to ban lead paint worldwide.
The band worked, lead paint was outlawed, and everything was
-sunny and happy again.
-Back to you, Larry.
Just kidding. Life is an ever-churning maelstrom
of avarice and pain, and this story is no different.
(woman screams)
See, the U.S. didn't ban lead paint until 1978.
Why did it take more than 50 years
for the U.S. to do anything about lead paint?
-If you guessed corporate greed...
-
-Just don't chew on it. It's made of lead.
The U.S. didn't sign on to the 1922 ban because of lobbying
by pro-lead groups like the Lead Industries Association
and the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association.
That's the N.P.V.L.A., or "NuhPuhVLa," for short.
♪ NuhPuhVLa! ♪
And in that time, not only was lead paint legal.
It was actively marketed to young people.
Companies would even send out lead-paint coloring books
to households with children.
In fact, take a look at the Dutch Boy mascot.
Fun, cartoony. Kind of reminds you of this dude, doesn't he?
-(coughing).
In fact, in 1938, the government even mandated
that cheap lead-based paints had to be used
in certain government housing projects.
Congratulations!
You have just survived the Depression.
What are you gonna do next?
I'm gonna saddle my entire family
with a lifetime of incurable neurological problems!
So, like big tobacco, the lead industry fought warning labels,
promoted junk science and went after their critics.
In the 1950s, they even threatened
to sue the makers of the show
for their episode about lead poisoning.
NARRATOR:
and without medical aid, was unable
to understand the strong and gripping pains
that wracked his body.
MAN:
-(angels singing)
Anyway, cities didn't start taking action until much later,
with New York banning lead paint in 1959.
In the '60s, it fell
to community groups to educate residents
about the dangers of lead. Community groups like...
the Black Panthers.
That's right,
The same Black Panthers your mom's friend on Facebook
thinks are gonna break into her house
and force-feed her chicken and waffles.
Those Black Panthers were way ahead of the federal government
on the dangers of lead.
The Black Panthers ran People's Free Medical Clinics.
That, among many other services,
provided lead tests for their communities.
Now I know the Black Panthers did bad stuff.
(baby crying)
♪ Bad stuff! ♪
But testing their communities for lead--
-that's definitely in the pro column.
So, scientific evidence about the dangers of lead
was mounting, and you know what that means.
Time to blame the victims.
The lead industry actually claimed
that the real danger was from
uneducable Negro and Puerto Rican parents
who couldn't stop their kids from eating paint.
Uneducable Negro and Puerto Ricans?
Yeah, well, maybe all the Negroes and Puerto Ricans
were uneducable because you turned their brains
into crème brûlée with your toxic paint,
you evil mother (bleep)!
-(woman gasps)
In 1978, the United States
finally banned the sale of lead paint,
-and lead pipes were banned in the 1980s.
-But the damage was done.
Lead was already tied into millions
of poor urban neighborhoods. It was part of the family.
-(children giggling)
like Freddie Gray, whose death at the hands of the police
touched off unrest in Baltimore last year.
MALE REPORTER:
raised Freddie and his siblings in a home so squalid,
they won a settlement
from the landlord over lead paint exposure.
WOMAN:
to problems he ultimately had in school.
I first read about it, and I thought,
how am I even talking about lead paint
and we're talking about, you know,
we've lost this young man, but it's all connected.
That's right, pretty white lady, it's all connected
in the great circle of (bleep) over poor people
and minorities. I know it's upsetting,
but that's why it's not called the...
It's called...
Everything is awful. Have a nice day.
-(audience groaning) -Well, that was depressing.
We'll be right back.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering, applause)