Lead (again)

This time in the FT!

I had an article in the FT today, explaining why “On lead, Britain is the laggard of the developed world”:

A year and a half ago, one of President Joe Biden’s economic advisers, Heather Boushey, was invited to the Labour Party conference to explain what the incoming UK government might learn from the Biden administration. Boushey dutifully reeled off familiar policy priorities, from clean energy investment to boosting manufacturing. Yet one item on her list was more surprising to the British ear — the mass replacement of lead pipes….

The UK’s lead exposure surveillance system is reactive — children need to be referred for testing. Yet most people do not know they have been exposed. As a result, the UK detects less than 1 per cent of the cases believed to be out there. In the US, by contrast, blood tests for lead are integrated into Medicaid, and 20 states have mandatory testing requirements. In France, children are routinely screened if they fall into a high-risk category — for example, if they live in an old house. In Australia, children are tested if they live near disused lead mines

Read the full thing here.