{"id":5740,"date":"2026-02-09T15:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T21:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/?p=5740"},"modified":"2026-02-06T15:19:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:19:44","slug":"this-lead-is-killing-us-a-history-of-citizens-fighting-lead-poisoning-in-their-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/2026\/02\/09\/this-lead-is-killing-us-a-history-of-citizens-fighting-lead-poisoning-in-their-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"This Lead is Killing Us: A History of Citizens Fighting Lead Poisoning in Their Communities\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"This<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Written by: Carrie Meyer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Library of Medicine produced This\u00a0Lead\u00a0Is Killing Us: A History of Citizens Fighting\u00a0Lead\u00a0Poisoning in Their Communities<\/em>, guest curated by historian and educator Richard M. Mizelle, Jr, PhD (University of Houston). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over a century, citizens have confronted\u00a0lead\u00a0industries, housing authorities, and elected officials to protect their health against the dangers of\u00a0lead\u00a0poisoning. When people ingest\u00a0lead\u2014by breathing contaminated air, drinking contaminated water, or accidentally eating\u00a0leaded paint chips\u2014they can become very sick.\u00a0Lead\u00a0poisoning causes neurological problems and sometimes even death. Today, researchers believe that no amount of exposure to\u00a0lead\u00a0is safe for children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The traveling banner exhibition located on Level 6, McGoogan Library, Wittson Hall and companion website<\/a> explore the story of citizen action taken against an environmental danger.\u00a0Lead\u00a0exposure can cause neurological problems and sometimes even death; yet this metal has been pervasive in many aspects of American life for over a century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, mining, battery manufacturing, smelting, and enameling industries included\u00a0lead\u00a0in their production processes, impacting factory workers and consumers. Manufacturers added\u00a0lead\u00a0to household paints and gasoline, endangering the health of families and polluting the air through exhaust fumes. To protect themselves against the dangers of\u00a0lead\u00a0poisoning, scientists, families, and individuals opposed industries, housing authorities, and elected officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\u00a0Lead\u00a0Is Killing Us: A History of Citizens Fighting\u00a0Lead\u00a0Poisoning in Their Communities<\/em> is on display now through March 21st on Level 6, McGoogan Library, Wittson Hall.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by: Carrie Meyer The National Library of Medicine produced This\u00a0Lead\u00a0Is Killing Us: A History of Citizens Fighting\u00a0Lead\u00a0Poisoning in Their Communities, guest curated by historian and educator Richard M. Mizelle, Jr, PhD (University of Houston). For over a century, citizens have confronted\u00a0lead\u00a0industries, housing authorities, and elected officials to protect their health against the dangers of\u00a0lead\u00a0poisoning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1250,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[57,9,58,18],"class_list":["post-5740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library","tag-faculty","tag-history-of-medicine","tag-staff","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5740"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5746,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740\/revisions\/5746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}