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This article describes the action of lead inside our body's cells.
They
have shown that after it infiltrates a cell, lead seeks out those
regions of proteins where sulfur abounds and pushes aside smaller
characters that stand in its way. But being bulkier than whatever it
displaces, and chemically inappropriate besides, lead twists the entire
protein into a sad, worthless shape. As it turns out, this distorting
effect has a particularly severe effect on so-called transcription
factors, proteins that control when genes flick on and flick off. In
gestation, genetic timing is critical. This could help explain why even
modest exposure to our old “civilizing” friend might corrupt the whole
script of a developing brain.
Lead is really useful.
Paints stick to wood better, and the paint colors are brighter.
Lead in gasoline reduces engine knock.
But paint eventually
chips. Babies and toddlers will put anything in their
mouths. When they eat the lead, they can't learn. Their
lives are less than they would otherwise be.
Exhaust from tailpipes pumped tons of lead in the air. We breathed it every day.
Enormous
political battles occurred over 80 years. Tremendous costs were
incurred finding replacements for the wonderful properties of
lead. But we took most lead out of our environment.
Then we
started importing from China at artificially low prices enforced by
that country's government through currency manipulation. The 80
years of progress, then a great leap backward. For what?
Nine million
toys produced for Mattel, many of which were imported into the
U.S. Covered in lead. But they were cheap. It was
only the most recent discovery inside the oceans of imports.
Nine million. 9,000,000. If you started counting now, at
one number per second, you would reach nine million during the second
week of December. An entire generation of kids could be affected.
One staid academic said:
“I’m not normally a rabble rouser, but I’m disturbed by the
potential enormity of this problem,” said Jeremy R. Knowles, a
professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Harvard. “We’re talking
about millions of toys, and the possibility of an entire generation of
children being exposed to gratuitous constraints on their neurological
development.”
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