Park Slope's Lydia Denworth is the author of Toxic Truth: A Scientist, A Doctor and the Battle Over Lead, the first book to tell the incredible story of the two men behind the bitter thirty-year fight to protect children from lead.

I asked Denworth to tell me the most important facts we need to know about lead. She sent me this:

The Minimum You Need to Know About Lead and Your Child: 

–Test your child if you live in a house or apartment built
before 1978.

…if you child attends a school or day care (or visits a
relative) in a building built before 1978.

…if you or your spouse works in an industry where lead
is used. 

–Test yourself if you are pregnant or thinking of becoming
pregnant and any of the above is true. 

–Test your home if it was built before 1978, especially if
you are planning renovations or you have peeling or cracked paint

–The latest research shows that the greatest effects from
lead come at the lowest levels. Put another way the difference between lead
levels of 3 micrograms per deciliter and 10 micrograms is much greater than
that between 13 and 20.

The Bottom Line:

Lead poisoning is a man-made disease and entirely
preventable. The way we prevent it is by not exposing children to lead. Almost
every product that is currently made with lead (certainly this is true of toys
and artificial turf) can also be made without lead. Why not avoid the problem
in the first place?

I also asked Denworth what she is most proud of in relation to this important book:

That writer Steven Johnson called the book “a page-turner”
(not an easy thing to pull off!) and Newsweek’s Sharon Begley called it
“riveting” and “fascinating.”

That the book will bring more attention to the work of Clair
Patterson and Herb Needleman

TODAY: Denworth is having a book launch party and talk at the Old Stone House (in
conjunction with the Community Bookstore). That's Tuesday March 3rd at 7
p.m.There will be books for sale and signing.