Paul Flynn was obsessed with making sure kids avoided lead poisoning.
You may think this is just a problem of urban neighborhoods, but you would be wrong. When I was active in selling residential real estate back in the 1980s, we were trained to caution any seller who lived in a home built before 1970 that the chances were very good that there was lead-based paint somewhere in -- or ON -- the house.
1950s ad for lead-based paint
One day a private investigator came into the Burgdorff real estate office in Fanwood, where I was an agent, with an aerial photo of a residential neighborhood where the National Lead Company (Dutch Boy Paints) had advertised in the 1950s that all the homes' exteriors were painted with lead paints of their manufacture.
After checking some other maps, we concluded the neighborhood in question was most likely at the southern edge of Westfield, snuggled up against the railroad tracks that separate it from Clark. I never heard any more of that particular investigation, but it was a lesson permanently etched in my mind: Lead paint, at one time, was nearly ubiquitous.
Not only exteriors, but baseboards, windows, cabinets or doors painted white (lead was the most common ingredient in white paint at the time), were immediately suspect. But we were also warned that lead paints were also custom-tinted, so almost any color could actually be lead-based.
The danger, of course, is that small children can ingest chips of flaking paint. But adults can also be affected, especially if restoring an old home by using a heat plate to soften layers of old paint on woodwork to make it easy to remove.
Flynn developed an educational outreach program -- with Leadie Eddie as its distinctive mascot -- to teach youngsters the dangers of lead paint. What better way to do effective public health outreach than to educate and motivate the very audience most likely to suffer the ill effects of lead poisoning?
Paul Flynn with 'Leadie Eddie'
Sadly, Paul Flynn passed away -- too soon! -- a week ago at age 39 from congestive heart failure.
A very sad loss.
But we have as a legacy the movement he built -- just check out the range of resources at the end of this post.
Paul Flynn might have appreciated the motto of Antioch College,
"Be ashamed to die until you win some victory for humanity."Paul Flynn could die proudly, having won many small victories for kids.
A life we could profitably ponder.
Resources --
- Bob Braun: "Paul Flynn: An irrepressible spirit who gave Newark his all"
- Plainfield Today (5/23): "Loss of lead poisoning grant would affect kids"
- Leadie Eddie Website: "Leadie Eddie"
- ClearCorps: "CLEARCorps/New Jersey" -- Dedicated to lead poisoning education.
- Gateway Maternal & Child Health Consortium: "Leadie Eddie Coloring Book"
-- Dan Damon
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