Introduction

Lead poisoning, as a mirror of the persistence of its stolid and elemental agent,¹ has remained a serious threat to health and development for centuries, indeed millennia.² The failure of modern societies to solve even this abundantly documented problem "with both causes and cures known" has given rise to repeated prophecies of social doom.³ The obverse opportunity presented by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) process⁴ is to establish a Global Lead Initiative (GLI) that will presently reduce and ultimately eliminate this long-standing worldwide threat. While the conquest of lead poisoning will constitute a signal victory in itself, its concrete achievement should also serve as an optimism-engendering model of international cooperation adaptable to solving other threats to sustainable development. In order to achieve this precedential victory, it is essential that the United States maintains and intensifies its leadership role on lead poisoning prevention in an internationalized context.⁵

The GLI should be designed to complete worldwide leaded gasoline phase-out⁶ on an expedited basis and to use the momentum from that success to address the multiple other sources of lead exposure. Modeled on proven processes such as the Summit of the Americas, the project should initially convene a technical advisory group to work in partnership with identified government focal points, as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector, to prepare action plans for phase-out that include milestones and time lines for national action. The United States should support the GLI and such complementary activities as the development of an international network dedicated to raising public awareness and exchanging best practices for phase-out and prevention, including those based on U.S. experience.