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Editorial
by Adrian
Hill, Elizabeth O'Brien and Robin Mosman
This newsletter
is mostly case studies from the 3rd quarterly report of LEADLINE, dated February 1996.
LEADLINE is the national lead information and referral service run by The LEAD Group.
More case
studies? Well, as Dr Kate Short said at the Australian Medical Association's Environment
Forum in November 1995, "What is the plural term for anecdote? The answer:
data."
It was when a
fellow lead campaigner (for Citizen Action in New Jersey, USA) sent two letters telling us
of his success in getting regulatory change introduced, that we realised again how
essential such regulations are for Australia too.
Dealing with
people's individual problems with lead is a vital function, but if we are to stop the
problems arising in the first place, regulatory change is required. The massive number of
cases we have dealt with (over 3000) in just nine months, a very few of which we present
here, ably demonstrate the need for legislative change in Australia regarding lead.
LEADLINE’s
unique contribution to the management of the lead problem is its ability to facilitate the
development of the whole range of services needed to cope with it. With the lead
assessment and abatement industries in their infancy, a huge range of new small and large
business opportunities exist, including training in lead management.
Australia and
the Asian Pacific region generally provide a huge potential market for the services,
products and training which are developing. Examples include lead assessors; laboratory
analysis; building contractors and painters who now specialise in lead paint abatement and
leaded ceiling dust removal; recyclers of leaded waste; lead-aware cleaning services (home
and workplace); equipment hire and sales service.
LEADLINE’s
focus on lead, and it’s huge network of contacts on all aspects of the lead issue
give it the necessary "big picture" view to see where these opportunities exist.
More
importantly, it has the ability to refer business inquirers to these opportunities, and
consumer inquirers to the businesses which then develop, which government departments
cannot.
This interface
between the problem, the business which can deal with the problem, and the customer who
has the problem, is one which government alone, and business alone, do not and cannot
provide.
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