Le plomb, le peintre et la flèche de Notre-Dame

The 2019 fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris gave sudden and ephemeral visibility to the risk of environmental lead poisoning. It is considered here in the light of the history of the long-lasting and intermittent collective amnesia about the proven dangers of this toxic substance. The scientific...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Judith Rainhorn
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Société d'Anthropologie des Connaissances 2021-12-01
Series:Revue d'anthropologie des connaissances
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rac/25438
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Summary:The 2019 fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris gave sudden and ephemeral visibility to the risk of environmental lead poisoning. It is considered here in the light of the history of the long-lasting and intermittent collective amnesia about the proven dangers of this toxic substance. The scientific and legal identification of lead as a poison did not hinder the multiplication of its artisanal and industrial uses, making it a “legal poison”. Through the history of white lead, the most widespread compound since the 19th century, the article examines the toolbox for constructing an argument and the use of ignorance as an instrument of governing toxic lead in the environment. It sheds light on an enterprise of scientific blurring, segmentation of knowledge and global denial of occupational hazards that the Notre-Dame disaster attests to today.
ISSN:1760-5393