Remember the Flint, Michigan, water crisis? The public health disaster that, at its peak, poisoned nearly 5 percent of the city’s children with dangerously high levels of lead in their water? It was perhaps one of the few public health crises in the US that rose to the prominence of a national scandal, sparking outrage and dominating headlines for years.

The fallout led to lawsuits, local and federal investigations, firings of top officials, and a settlement north of $600 million.

But as scandalous as the Flint crisis was, it represents just the tip of a global iceberg.

Around the world, an estimated one in three children — about 800 million kids — has lead levels in their blood as high, or higher, than the kids in Flint did. That should be a huge cause of concern because lead is a pote

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