Via NPR: "It's 1957. Dr. Herbert Needleman is on his way to see a 3-year-old patient at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Needleman's a young doctor, 6 feet tall with brown eyes and dark hair. This is the first case of lead poisoning he's ever seen. And when he shows up, the girl is not in good shape.
"This girl was lethargic and almost comatose," says Lydia Denworth, who wrote a book about Needleman called Toxic Truth. Needleman has Alzheimer's disease and was unable to be interviewed for this story.
Needleman treats the girl for lead poisoning, and she starts to feel better. So he talks to the girl's mother. He tells her that her daughter is OK, but she was probably poisoned by lead paint or dust at home, and they can't go back there.
"The mother just looked at him and said, 'Well where am I supposed to go?' " Denworth says. "She didn't have any money, she was a single mother, and suddenly Needleman says it's like the scales fell from his eyes."
This patient marked the beginning of a lifelong crusade for Needleman. He went on to make a huge discovery that changed the way we think about the dangers of lead. But it didn't change everything." The story continues.