There's lead in your turmeric

Matt is joined by Rachel Silverman, a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, who talks about the extreme dangers and high prevalence of lead contamination globally. Despite the manifest health benefits that would be served by Biden's plans to finally replace lead pipes in the U.S., this is marginal compared to the lead poisoning occurring due to unregulated electronics recycling, traditional ceramics glazing, and by bright, yellow turmeric.

"Biden Wants to Eliminate Lead Poisoning in American Children. We Propose an Even More Ambitious Goal: Global Eradication" by Susannah Hares, Rachel Silverman, and Lee Crawfurd (Apr. 20, 2021)

"Your old phone is full of untapped precious metals" by Bianca Nogrady, BBC (Oct. 18, 2016)

"Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States" by Whitney Cowell, Thomas Ireland, Donna Vorhees, and Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Public Health Reports (May-Jun 2017)

Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution by Beth Gardiner (U. Chicago, 2019)

"New evidence that lead exposure increases crime" by Jennifer L. Doleac, Brookings Institution (June 1, 2017)

Rachel Silverman (@rsilv_dc), policy fellow, Center for Global Development

Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com

Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer

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