John Oliver goes to Sesame Street to shame Congress on lead poisoning

John Oliver visits Sesame Street to talk lead poisoning

(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

last updated 18 April 2016

Lead is "the most dangerous thing in Led Zeppelin's name," John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, "and I will remind you, the other thing was Zeppelin." Lead poisoning has been in the news because of the tainted water in Flint, Michigan, Oliver said, and everybody in Congress agrees the poisoning of children in Flint is a travesty. "So we all care about lead in Flint now, which is great," he said. "Unfortunately, the problem is not just in Flint." A USA Today report found excessive lead in nearly 2,000 water systems spread across all 50 states, Oliver noted, and there is no easy or even medium-hard fix.

In fact, he added, the big risk for lead poisoning is from lead paint dust in 2.1 million U.S. homes with children under 6. "There is no safe level of lead — it's one of those things that is so dangerous you shouldn't let even a little bit inside you," he said. "Even low-level exposure can lead to irreversible damage, like lower IQs, anti-social behavior, and reduced attention span." Other countries banned the use of lead paint in the 1920s, but the U.S. didn't. And even when the U.S. government got serious about banning lead the 1970s and '80s, Oliver said, "the lead industry did not go down without a ridiculous fight."

They lost, and getting rid of lead in paint and gasoline "was a major public health victory," Oliver said, but the U.S. still had a ton of existing lead paint and lead pipes it had to deal with, and that turned out to really, really expensive. Still, given that lead poisoning has been linked to higher crime and more medical care, it is a cost-effective effort — which has been grossly underfunded by the same members of Congress that express outrage about Flint, Oliver said. Earlier in the program, he played clips from a 20-year-old Sesame Street campaign to educate children about lead; to make Congress care enough to act now, Oliver returned to Sesame Street to talk lead with Elmo, Rosita, and Oscar the Grouch. Yes, they sing, but sadly, there is no cameo by the amazing Lead Police from the original Sesame Street video. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.