Life without Lead examines the social, political, and environmental
dimensions of a devastating lead poisoning epidemic. Drawing from a
political ecology of health perspective, the book situates the Uruguayan
lead contamination crisis in relation to neoliberal reform,
globalization, and the resurgence of the political Left in Latin
America. The author traces the rise of an environmental social justice
movement, and the local and transnational circulation of environmental
ideologies and contested science. Through fine-grained ethnographic
analysis, this book shows how combating contamination intersected with
class politics, explores the relationship of lead poisoning to poverty,
and debates the best way to identify and manage an unprecedented local
environmental health problem.