Lead poisoning in Australia 1890-2007

Abstract

A case study of lead poisoning in colonial Australia and beyond is used as a basis to raise questions about socio-scientific dimensions of public policy interventions to prevent harm from work. First, discussions about exposure to lead which resulted initially in lead poisoning in children and subsequently in chronic nephritis in some of those children reaching adulthood, were used as a basis to introduce a range of issues germane to disease prevention: the nature of scientific method, the nature of political and economic power, health communication, epidemiology and technology, the power of one and/or the few, bureaucratic systems, decision making under uncertainty, mind, will and morality, the efficacy of duty of care, and professional ethics. Second, some of these issues were further discussed in combination in order to focus on questions of human cognition, ethical social values and the human will in the context of public policy intervention. Third, general learnings about preventive public policy intervention were drawn out of the discussion and expressed in the form of actions the ICOH itself might consider adopting in order to make itself a more effective organisation.