[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S4763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING HERBERT NEEDLEMAN

 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I recently received the sad 
news that Dr. Herbert L. Needleman has passed away. With Herbert's 
passing, we lost a great man--and the scientific community lost one of 
its best.
  In the 1970s, Herb undertook groundbreaking studies that revealed the 
dangers of lead exposure in children. According to the Pittsburgh 
Gazette, Herb ``had been thinking about the impact lead had on 
children's cognitive abilities for nearly two decades before he finally 
came up with a way to test historic lead levels.'' He made powerful 
adversaries in the lead industry, but true to his research, Dr. 
Needleman found new and inventive ways to prove the toxic effects of 
lead exposure.
  As a researcher at Temple University, he developed the ``Tooth 
Fairy'' approach: a method to test children's baby teeth for lead 
exposure levels. This method led to pioneering research that found that 
Black children living in cities had lead levels five times higher than 
suburban, White children. In the words of Herb's son, ``He just 
couldn't tolerate injustice and could not stop seeking the truth.'' The 
results of Herb's hard work and his dedication to seeking the truth 
today reach from the halls of science to the apartments of inner 
cities.
  I got to see his determination first hand, working alongside him in 
fighting the lead paint industry in Rhode Island. When I was 
confronting the lead industry, over 35,000 Rhode Island children under 
the age of 6 had elevated levels of lead in their systems. His research 
was instrumental in the fight for the health of Rhode Island's 
children. I am deeply grateful for Herbert's help in my home State, and 
I know Rhode Island families are grateful as well.
  America has lost a beloved pediatrician, psychiatrist, and brilliant 
scientist. I offer my condolences to the Needleman family and to the 
many people he taught and mentored through the years. He lives on as a 
lasting lesson in the power of science to help others.

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