"The image of the lead-poisoned child as abnormal or neglected is not only wrong, but it was intentionally placed in the American psyche by the lead industry itself, which had a vested interest in shifting the blame from their products, said Rosner, co-author of the book "Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children."
. . .
In some of the more odious of their internal communications on the topic, a top official at the trade group representing lead paint manufacturers in the 1950s described lead poisoning as a problem "of the slums" confined to "Negro and Puerto Rican" children with "relatively ineducable" parents who could not be trusted to protect them, Rosner's research revealed."
https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/2015/10/5_common_lead_po...