Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

0:02The symptoms are small at first. You feel a little more tired than usual, perhaps a bit forgetful. You shrug it off as stress. After a while, you feel a little more than tired. You feel unwell. It's hard to tell what could be making you feel this way. Your diet? A long-running cold? It doesn't happen all at once. Basic tasks are making you feel like you're lost. And before you know it, it's all-consuming.

0:41But the doctor's standard tests don't show anything. No one knows what's happening. Inside your body, something has been accumulating.

0:56There is toxic lead inside you. And it's poisoning you.

1:04My name is Laura Hughes. And for the past two years, I've been uncovering the United Kingdom's perplexing relationship with lead. What I've found has shocked me. I think the most terrifying thing is, is that once it's happened, there's not really an easy route out of it. The damage is done. Ticking along, incrementing a little bit, a little bit more, a little bit more, a little more damage, a little more damage. And you feel like a conspiracy theorist if you talk to people, like, neighbours are interested, kind of. And they're like, oh, you're going on about that, OK. Every American child is tested for this, so why isn't every British child tested for it too?

1:42And they're failing at one of the most basic functions of government, which is to protect its citizens. If I report this, people are going to hate me. I won't move on with my life. And I was so petrified of being dragged across the coals for reporting them. And I still am. From the Financial Times, this is Untold. Toxic Legacy. Out now. Thank you.