A century of hair samples proves leaded gas ban worked

A century of hair samples proves leaded gas ban worked

“We should not forget the lessons of history. And the lesson is those regulations have been very important.”...

Old Hair Reveals How Toxic America Once Was

A century of hair samples shows how environmental rules helped slash Americans’ lead exposure by up to 100 times. Before the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970, lead pollution was deeply embedded in everyday American life. Communities were exposed through industrial activity, lead-based paint, aging water pipes, and most heavily through vehicle exhaust. Lead [...]

Hair samples reveal the benefits of lead regulation

The evidence is clear—and in your hair. Americans were exposed to as much as 100 times more lead in their daily lives than they are today before the Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970. In an effort to examine the dramatic reduction in toxic heavy metal exposure, researchers turned to human hair samples dating back a century. Their findings, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide a sta…

A century of hair clippings show lead exposure rates have plummeted

There’s no safe level of exposure to lead—but a small, strange study shows we’ve made incredible progress in recent decades

New research finds lead pollution dropped 100-fold over last century

The U.S. Mining and Smelting Co. plant in Midvale, Utah, 1906. (Utah Historical Society via SWNS) By Stephen Beech Lead pollution has dropped 100-fold over the last century, reveals new research. Analysis of human hair samples from today compared to 100 years ago showed a dramatic decline in potentially deadly environmental lead levels. Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that accumulates in human tissues and is linked to developmental deficits in ch…

Banning lead in gas worked: The proof is in our hair

Prior to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, Americans lived in communities awash with lead from industrial sources, paint, water supply pipes and, most significantly, tailpipe emissions. A dangerous neurotoxin that accumulates in human tissues and is linked to developmental deficits in children, environmental lead levels have come way down in the years since, and so have human exposures.