Lead

It's bad for kids' brains. Really bad. And Kevin Drum says we could largely solve the problem for relatively little money. And check out this lead-related anecdote:

Lead was banned from gasoline during the 1980s. The job was done by the Reagan Administration. Vice President George H.W. Bush and his "regulatory reform" task force had proposed loosening lead limits, but a brilliant analysis spearheaded by my friend Joel Schwartz (then at the EPA, now at the Harvard School of Public Health) managed to turn the proposal around; even the folks at OMB couldn't deny the data when they had their noses rubbed in them. Such deference to fact would be unthinkable today

Astonishing, but true isn't? One couldn't imagine a policy argument on the merits of any sort convincing the Bush administration of anything. If the gasoline companies wanted something not to happen, it wouldn't happen.

Comments

Bush would ADD lead to baby formula if gained him something politically.

Posted by steve duncan | July 9, 2007 1:55 PM

Dick Cheney.

Posted by Garuda | July 9, 2007 2:08 PM

To go a step further, it's not just this administration. I don't think the merits of any issue could change the positions of the conservative movement at this point. We should brace for the same ideological based decision making from any of the leading Republican candidates should they win in 2008.

Posted by AJ | July 9, 2007 2:43 PM

I might buy that W would allow higher levels of lead, etc., etc.

But what does this have to do with the administration at all?

Posted by Klug | July 9, 2007 3:18 PM

For all you young 'uns out there, the quoted passage "Lead was banned from gasoline during the 1980s. The job was done by the Reagan Administration." is highly misleading. The switch from leaded to unleaded gas began during the Nixon administration when environmental legislation essentially made leaded fuel unacceptable in all new cars. The last new car (that I recall) in the U.S. that was capable of running on leaded fuel was the 1976 Honda Civic (less than $3000 new, from the dealer). And you couldn't just put leaded fuel in cars designed for unleaded. The unleaded fuel nozzle was a smaller diameter than the leaded fuel nozzle and the fuel filler neck on unleaded cars was to small to fully insert a leaded fuel nozzle. Thus, by the time Reagan became President, most cars on the road were designed and ran on unleaded fuel. Only older cars ran on leaded fuel. The transition was over a period of time as there were concerns that engines running unleaded fuel which were not designed for it would suffer from premature valve and valve seat wear, among other things. These concerns were never fully seen. The final ban was anti climatic. And, as always, it was the corporatist's who were the last to see the light.

Posted by milo | July 9, 2007 3:26 PM

The Republican candidates are already on record as opposed to dealing w/ issues based on the weight of scientific opinion.

Remember how they responded to that question about their beliefs in evolution during the CNN-sponsored debate? I think only McCain accorded the idea any credibility.

And that's just the beginning.

Posted by THS | July 9, 2007 5:53 PM

I my view, this is how Communism (Soviet model) ceased to be viable. Central planning is about "merit oriented" control, and as the time flows, the interest groups of the controlled are increasingly proficient in bending the system in their favor.

The sum of a myriad little bends at some points makes the system utterly beyond control (other than -- OK guys, just do what you ever did).

The creation and execution of war plans is the best test case. The leaders of the project needed it badly to succeed. I seriously doubt that the people responsible for details thought: "this is serious, if we will not screw up in Iraq, badly, these guys will just start one war after another and we will have WWIII." And there was a lot of attention to detail. How to play the propaganda war against Democrats. How to secure patronage jobs for the "new blood" of GOP. How to make certain that correct companies will profits, and that they will profit enough. How to get rid of all unenthusiastic kvetches of dubious loyalty (and, accidentally, remove from the planning process anybody who has any idea what and how it should be done).

Posted by piotr | July 9, 2007 8:14 PM

I believe that during the current administration, the states, starting with California, led the charge for banning MBTE in gasoline, which is now nationwide. That's just from memory--I would have to recheck the specific facts--but I do believe the state have managed some accomplishments even in the face of administration and industry opposition.

Posted by Alan | July 9, 2007 8:24 PM

This account of the removal of lead from gasoline is false. See the EPA website, http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lead/02.htm for the truth.

Lead was not removed from gasoline in order to protect people from the hazards of lead.

In the 1970's, in order to reduce air pollution the government mandated that all new cars had to be equipped with catalytic converters. These devices break down nitrogen dioxide (which causes acid rain) into harmless nitrogen and oxygen, and also reduce carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollution. The program was initiated in the Nixon administration and put into effect in the Ford administration.

The lead in gasoline "poisons" the catalytic converter by bonding and coating the active elements in the device. Therefore, beginning in 1975, all gas stations had to sell unleaded gas, and all new cars had a new narrower gas tank pipe so you couldn't pump in leaded gas.

For years, all gas stations sold both leaded and unleaded gas. As the older cars were taken off the road, gas stations voluntarily stopped offering leaded gas, but it was legal until 1996,when -during the Clinton administration - Congress banned it for on-road automobile use.

So the statement that "lead was banned from gas in the 1980's" during the Reagan administration is entirely false.

Posted by Bloix | July 10, 2007 2:55 AM