How do you get the world to pay attention to a problem it thinks it's already solved?
Around a billion children are exposed to dangerous levels of lead. It can be hiding in cookware, spices and cosmetics, or released through industries like battery recycling. For a child, exposure can mean losing up to six IQ points - irreversible damage that, multiplied across hundreds of millions of children, becomes an enormous drain on human potential. And yet, unlike so many global challenges, we already know how to prevent it.
Meet Drew McCartor, President of Pure Earth. For the past 17 years, Drew and his colleagues have been sounding the alarm about lead poisoning: gathering evidence, understanding the scale of the problem and building the playbook for how to solve it. Now, after decades of “yelling into the void”, the world is finally paying attention - and Drew believes we have an opportunity to eliminate lead poisoning altogether.
In this episode:
Why around a billion children are exposed to dangerous levels of lead
The surprising places lead is still hiding - from cookware to spices
What losing four to six IQ points means for a child - and an entire country
How a Craigslist ad led Drew from unpaid intern to President of Pure Earth
Why Pure Earth spent years wondering if they were crazy
The young boy in Bangladesh who brought the human cost of lead poisoning home for Drew
What changed when the world finally started paying attention
Why Drew believes we can eliminate lead poisoning altogether
About the title: A Useful Truth comes from a 1786 letter by Benjamin Franklin about lead poisoning: “You will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known and exist before it's generally received and practiced upon.” Almost 250 years later, it feels remarkably apt.
Timestamps:
00:00 A Useful Truth
00:55 Do you ever feel like something is wrong but no one will listen?
03:20 Haven’t we already solved lead poisoning?
05:00 What does lead poisoning actually mean?
07:43 The curse of the Industrial Fairy
10:20 What’s harder: solving lead poisoning or convincing people it matters?
12:31 From Craigslist ad to President of Pure Earth
14:50 How do a group of hippies change the world?
17:36 Midpoint reflections
20:09 When the world finally started paying attention
22:57 What happens when you get the thing you’ve spent 17 years working towards?
25:07 Lead and the global funding crisis
29:06 The story that makes lead poisoning real
33:58 The solutions are already here
34:46 What happens if we raise the IQ of a billion children?
39:01 What’s possible if we solve lead poisoning?
44.59 Final Thoughts
Curious to find out more?
👉Check out the Pure Earth website
👉Support their work
👉 Listen to Drew's TED Talk
👉 The Pure Earth SCALE Initiative to protect 500 million children from lead exposure
About Fix The News:Fix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.
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Production credits:
Hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose
Produced by Fix The News
Audio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!
** **This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples.