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Book Cover
Book
Author Troesken, Werner, 1963-

Title The great lead water pipe disaster / Werner Troesken
Published Cambridge, Mass. ; London : MIT, 2006

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  363.738492 Tro/Glw  AVAILABLE
Description x, 318 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents Prologue : exhuming Michael Galler -- 1. The significance of the small -- 2. A house for Erasmus -- 3. Fixing Alice -- 4. The latent history of eclampsia -- 5. The secret of Dr. Porrit's society -- 6. A false sense of simplicity -- 7. Responsibility in the court of the absurd -- 8. The legend of Loch Katrine -- 9. Building on the past -- App. A. Estimating the effects of lead water pipes in infant and fetal mortality -- App. B. A Statistical supplement to The menace and geography of eclampsia -- App. C. The correlates of lead solvency
Summary "In The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster, Werner Troesken looks at a long-running environmental and public health catastrophe: 150 years of lead pipes in local water systems and the associated sickness, premature death, political inaction, and social denial."
"Troesken examines the health effects of lead exposure, analyzing cases from New York City, Boston, and Glasgow and many smaller towns in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and England. He draws on period accounts, government reports, court decisions, and economic and demographic analysis to document the widespread nature of the problem, the recognized health effects - particularly for pregnant women and young children - and official intransigence. He presents an accessible overview of the old and new science of lead exposure - explaining, for example, why areas with soft water suffered more harmful effects than areas with hard water. And he gives us accounts of the people and politics involved. The effects of lead in water continue to be felt; many older houses still have lead service pipes. The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster is essential reading for understanding this past and ongoing public health problem."--BOOK JACKET
Notes Formerly CIP. Uk
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [285]-309) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Drinking water -- Lead content -- History.
Lead poisoning -- History.
Lead -- Environmental aspects -- History.
Lead -- Toxicology -- History.
Lead -- Toxicology.
Pipe, Lead -- History.
Water-pipes -- Materials -- History.
Environmental Exposure.
History, 19th Century.
History, 20th Century.
Lead Poisoning.
Water Supply -- history.
Author ebrary, Inc.
LC no. 2006049401
ISBN 0262201674 (hbk.)
9780262201674 (hbk.)