Joe Rogan Experience #2360 - Caroline Fraser

Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. >> The Joe Rogan Experience. >> Train by day. Joe Rogan podcast by. night. All day. >> Thanks for doing this. >> Thank you for having me. >> So, I read about the premise of your. book online and immediately I'm like, I. got to talk to this lady. That sounds. crazy. Um, please tell people what the. premise is just so we get started with. this. >> Yeah. Well, I started thinking about.

this a long time ago. Um, >> the book's called Murderland. >> Yeah, the the book is Murderland. And, um, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. in the 1970s around the time when there. were a lot of, you know, serial killers. beginning to pop up. And there always. had been this question, why are there so. many serial killers in the Pacific. Northwest? And so that was the question I was. really thinking about and the the.

premise as it emerged from the research. that I did and from some of the facts. that I learned about what was happening. in the Northwest in this runup to the. 1970s. is that um there. may be a connection between. uh the lead pollution. um that was prevalent uh in the area. because of smelters and leaded gas and.

serial killers. Um because lead of. course as we I think most people now. know has a connection to uh heightened. aggression and violence in the people. who've been exposed to it. So that was you know what emerged to me. uh gradually over the years. I mean, I. didn't know a lot about this when I. started. Um, I knew about the serial. killers, but I didn't really know about.

the whole lead story, and that came. about, you know, I learned about it in part. because of some murders. I mean, I live. in uh Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is a. lovely place. Um, unfortunately, New. Mexico has a high rate of homicides. Um, in part it's because it's a poor state. and, uh, doesn't have a big tax base and.

has, you know, some issues with, uh, drug and alcohol addiction. And few. years ago, maybe 2008 or something like. that, um some people, couple people were. murdered down the street from me. And I. live in a very peaceful neighborhood, you know, very um and that was something. that really made me start thinking about.

um. the issue of maybe, you know, it might. be a good idea to think of moving back. to the Pacific Northwest. um of which I. wanted to do anyway because I have. family up there. And um and a few years. later because of that, I was up in the. Northwest and looking at real estate. ads. And at this point, I didn't really. know anything about the smelter or the. um the lead issues, but I was looking at.

property on Vashan Island, which if you. know anything about the Pacific. Northwest is in Puget Sound. It's right. across from West Seattle. Beautiful. little uh it was quite rural when I was. growing up there. Beautiful place. And I. came across a real estate ad that said, and this is just for undeveloped. property, and it said arsenic. remediation may be necessary.

And I thought, wow, what what could. possibly have caused. so much arsenic pollution on Vashan. Island that you would have to get it. remediated? I mean, that just seemed. crazy to me. And I was so curious about that and I. looked it up online. and, you know, within minutes discovered. that there had been uh an infamous.

lead and copper smelter in the city of. Tacoma, which is just south of Vashan. Island. And so Vashon received a lot of. the pollution from that smelter. And so that began a whole process of of. kind of learning about. what happened here, you know, what. happened in this region. And I also knew uh because I'm sort of.

really interested in serial killers as I. mentioned and had been for for a long. time reading about them and reading. about Ted Bundy and Gary Rididgeway. Um, and I knew that both Bundy and Gary. Ridgeway, who was the Green River. killer, um, had grown up in Tacoma at the same. time that this smelter is, you know, the.

smelter had been operated operating. there since the 1880s, 1890s, so for a. very long time. And I could see that a lot of uh news. media had been devoted to looking at. what had happened in this in this. region. You know, there was a whole map, a GIS map, geographic, you know, information systems that allowed you to. look up individual. houses, you know, residential homes in.

Tacoma and see how much arsenic and lead. pollution was in the yards. So, I. discovered that you could actually look. up the house where Ted Bundy grew up and. see how much lead was in his front yard. and his backyard. And the more I read about lead pollution. and lead uh the association with. aggression and violence, the more I. wondered, is there a story to be told.

here about this issue? So this this issue of lead pollution, is. it just serial killers or is there an. elevated amount of violent crime that. goes along with it? >> Yeah, the the issue of serial killers is. one that I kind of introduced as a you. know the most extreme. example, right? But most most of the.

research that's been done has focused on. um aggression, juvenile delinquency, for. example. There are long-term studies. that look at kids who were exposed to. lead um including in relatively small. amounts. Um and then what happens to them later. uh you know by the time they're you know. teenagers or young adults and they have.

shown a very strong association with um. you know problems with learning uh ADHD. uh and and as I said delinquency and and. crime. >> and they've even shown that in places. that don't have smelters where People. are just dealing with leaded gasoline. that was used up until the 1990s, right? >> That's right. Yeah. >> Yeah. Decrease in IQ. Uh, a lot of.

factors that they can directly tie into. just the lead from gasoline, which is. significantly less than I would assume. you'd get from a large scale smelting. operation. >> Yeah. And the the leaded gas is. particularly tragic because that was. essentially a kind of um horrific. experiment that was conducted on. generations of kids in this country. Yeah. >> Um and adults because everybody was.

exposed to that. Um obviously some. people more than others if you lived. next to a major highway or something. like that you were getting more of it. than. >> um than if you maybe lived somewhere. else. Although I think rural people were. also exposed um because of the kinds of. machinery and stuff that's used uh on. farms and and so forth. So it was it was.

a terrible idea and they knew that at. the time you know the companies the. corporations the people who introduced. it uh Standard Oil DuPont etc. Um they. knew the dangers of this. They were told. by medical doctors who said, "Yeah, who. said. >> this will expose everybody. to, you know, more lead than than human.

beings have ever had to deal with. before.". >> Wow. >> And. >> and they just did it to stop the engines. from knocking. >> They did. And apparently there were. alternatives, but the alternatives which. were like ethanol. um were not something that could be. patented. >> and were not products that you could. make money off of. And so. >> all these corporations chose to do this.

>> Oh god. >> Yeah. I mean, it's it's really almost. unreal to think about. the the moral. failure that this I mean, failure. doesn't even seem strong enough. >> It doesn't. It's so evil. It's so. strange how many times that that has. happened in in human history and in. fairly recent history where companies. know what they're putting out or what. they're releasing or what they're. prescribing or whatever it is is going.

to damage people. And they know that. short term they can make a lot of money. and so they do it anyway. >> Yeah. And they did for for decades. because you know this began in the in. the 20s and 30s. >> So we can assume that the smelting thing. they probably didn't know. Correct. Like. at least in the 1800s. >> Yeah. In in the 1800s they probably. weren't thinking about stuff like that. They didn't have data on it. But by the.

time the companies really got up and. running and and the uh smelter in Tacoma. was owned by a company called Asarco, which was the American smelting and. refining company um owned by the. Guggenheim family. >> Oh boy. >> And. >> but they've done so much for art. >> Yeah. I mean that it's just. >> that's what they like to do. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a total kind of.

whitewashing the reputation. >> Yeah. >> And they were among the, you know, earlier corporations to do that. >> and totally successfully. >> It's so dark. Um my friend Peter Berg uh. explained to me the um origins of the. Nobel Prize. Did you know the origins of. the Nobel Prize? >> It has something to do with with. explosives, right? >> Yes. the the gentleman who the Nobel. Prize is named after um they erroneously.

reported that he was dead in the. newspaper and uh they called him the. merchant of death in the newspaper and. he like oh my god this is what people. think about me because he invented. dynamite and so he's like I've got to do. something to clean up my reputation. So. he devised this strategy of awarding. this prestigious award named after him. to all the great scientists and Nobel. Peace Prize and all these different. things. So now when people hear the term.

Nobel like, oh he's a Nobel laureate. Oh, he's he's a Nobel Prize winner and. that's the origin of it. It was just a. whitewashing operation. >> Yeah. I mean this the same thing. happened with the guy who invented the. leaded gas formula Thomas Miji. um who was really a terrible guy. I mean. he invented the the lead and gas stuff. He also invented chloro fuocarbons. You.

know the stuff in um refrigerants that. caused the. >> ozone layer hole. >> the hole in the ozone layer. >> Oh terrific. So like two of the most. devastating. discoveries, scientific discoveries in. the 20th century are down to the sky. And he was awarded the you know highest. medal from the um you know American. Chemistry Association which he still. holds. I mean even though he he became.

really ill uh as a result I think of. working with this. um. uh tetro you know tetraethyl it's called. the the substance that was added to to. leted gas and uh he you know went to. Florida to try and heal himself of of. this which I don't think you can do I. mean I I don't think going to Florida.

heels uh. lead exposure. But he Yes. And he. developed something which was called. polio. You know, he became. um you know, unable to walk. And he. invented this whole bizarre kind of um. system of pulleys that he could use to. to. uh lift himself out of bed. And. eventually he's strangled uh to death in. this um sort of harness thing.

>> Uh which that it may have been suicide, it may have been an accident. Um kind of. unclear. >> Wow. >> So when you first started investigating. this, was your interest in serial. killers? You always had an interest in. serial killers, which is always weird to. me how many women are interested in. serial killers. Like all of the top true. crime podcasts, if you look at their. demographics, it's a large chunk of it. is women. And I know the women in my. house, uh, love to watch those true.

crime shows. And those serial killer, which I that disturbs the [ __ ] out of. me. Like my family was watching. something on the Nightstalker on Richard. Ramirez and like I can't watch this. I. can't I get sick. I get sick. I can't. watch it. They're like fascinated like. why is that? Why do you think women are. so interested? I'm not like lumping you. in with all women, but there is a weird. thing with women in true crime podcast. >> Yeah, I think that that has to do with.

the fact that women deal with. fear, you know, fear of. um and it may be very, you know, nebulous. It may be kind of unclear what. you know, but a lot of women have just. had the experience of being afraid. walking alone at night or walking. through a parking lot or, you know, or. they've had direct experience of, you. know, some kind of of male violence or.

aggression, you know, at home, domestic. violence. So I think there's a whole. gamut of experiences that women uh have. had uh to one extent or another that. feed into that. And for me it was. growing up, you know, just a couple of. miles from the places where Ted Bundy. began abducting women in the summer of, you know, the the winter and summer of.

1974. and everybody knew there was somebody. out there. This is at a time when the. term serial killer wasn't even really in. use yet. People didn't really understand. the phenomenon. Um. >> it was still kind of an unusual um. thing and and this this was happening. You know, women were disappearing from. dorm rooms or their rooms at University.

of Washington. They were disappearing. off the street. Uh, and then they. weren't seen again for weeks, for. months, you know, in the July of 1974, I was 13. and on a really hot, you know, Sunday. afternoon in 1974, two women disappeared. from a crowded beach at Lake Samamesh, which was about, you know, 10 minutes.

from my house. And so having had that. experience of of being around at that. time, it was incredibly, you know, it was it was both really disturbing, but also I just really wanted to. understand what was happening. So, did. you plan on writing a book about serial. killers or was this understanding of the. lead and the arsenic what led you down.

to write this book? >> Yeah, I never really wanted to write a. book that was just about serial killers. I mean, I think that's been done, you. know, and lots of people have have done. that and done a good job, you know. I. mean, Annne Rule, the woman who wrote. the first uh book about Ted Bundy, who. knew Ted Bundy. >> Oh, she knew him. >> Yes. She she worked with him uh at a. rape crisis clinic. >> Oh my god. >> In Seattle. Yeah.

>> He worked at a rape crisis clinic. Wow. >> He he was very interested in doing. research on rape. >> Wow. >> Because of course he was something of an. expert. So. yeah. Yeah. That was why that book was. such a phenomenon because she knew him. before anybody had identified, you know, anything in him. She liked him. She was. friends with him. >> Wow. >> She gave him, you know, ride to the. Christmas party.

>> Oh my god. >> Yeah. >> Was this while he was killing or before. he started? >> Well, the thing that we don't really. know about Ted Bundy is when he started. killing. he would never answer that. question. And one of the cases that I talk about. that really is part of what made me want. to write this book is is a case um of an. 8-year-old girl who was abducted in. Tacoma. in uh 1961 in August of 1961. and and.

Marie Burr and he was 14 at that time. and uh he is now one of the principal. sub suspects I think uh behind her. abduction. Wow. >> So that may have been his first. >> 14 murder. >> Yeah. >> Was there like a history of him. torturing animals or anything along.

those lines? Um, no. But but one of the things that I. think the FBI was discovering when they. started doing all this, you know, investigation of of the pasts, you know, the childhood of serial. killers was that this starts really. young, that the fantasies and the. obsessions. um with, you know, I mean, some of some. of them famously do um torture or kill.

the family pets and and so forth With. Ted, that wasn't the case. I think with. with him, one of the things you see is. that he never knew who his father was. He was uh born illegitimate at a. founding home in Vermont. Um and his. mother left him there for a couple of. months um before she went back and and. kind of retrieved him. And that's a.

common uh factor with a lot of these. guys. They don't ha they don't know. their dad. They don't know who he is. maybe. Um. or they have, you know, a very bad. relationship with the parents. Um. there's maybe abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse. Um, we don't know that. about Ted Bundy in terms of the abuse. factor, but. um, he he remains, I think, really puzzling.

to people for that reason because you. don't see some of the usual um, signs. with him. >> and because he refused to answer. questions. Well, he talked a lot uh about, you. know, various people were able to. interview him. Uh the detective in King. County in Seattle who was in charge of. the investigation, he was actually quite.

young when he took this on. I think it. was his first major uh case as a. detective. Um he eventually was able to. interview Ted Bundy in prison when he. was on death row. Um Bundy for a variety. of reasons wouldn't talk about anything. that he did except hypothetically. um in the third person because he was. still trying to work the legal system.

and so he didn't want to admit to what. he'd done. How did he talk about it. hypothetically in the third person? >> I mean, it was sort of like OJ Simpson. or something. He would say, "Well, if. somebody was going to do this, >> oh god, >> here's what he probably would have. done.". >> And so there was a lot of that up until. the very last um days of Bundy's uh. sojourn on on uh death row. And then he.

he finally began uh confessing. um in the last two or three days in an. attempt, I think, to get the governor. interested in perhaps extending his life. um because he could give information. about where bodies had been left and and. so forth. >> But that didn't uh convince the governor. of Florida.

So when you saw this real estate and you. found out that it needed to have arsenic. removed from it, this began this sort of. journey that you went on to try to. connect. this area with serial killers and and. and toxins and what did you find like is. there a disproportionate number of. serial killers that come from that. particular area? Yeah, there really are, as I discovered,

a really kind of extraordinary number. And it's hard to talk about these. numbers simply because we don't know. what a normal number of serial killers. >> is in a given population. So, are there. like undiscovered serial killers that. are in that area or maybe deaths that. are attributed to unknown people? There are several cases that have never. been resolved. Um, you know, there's. something called the dismemberment.

murders that, you know, >> dismemberment murders. >> Yeah. Up in up in the northwest where, you know, various feet and things were. found washing up on shore and nobody. could figure out who they belonged to. >> I remember that. >> That was fairly recently, right? Am I. thinking of the same thing? It it may be. another thing that you're thinking of. I. think this. >> it was another thing. It was like shoes. that had a human foot in it. >> and they could have just been, you know,

bodies of people who. >> drowned. >> who drowned um because that's I think. what happens um in some cases. So I. think that's a a sort of question mark. There are a couple of others. Um there's. one in Idaho that they've never um. solved. So there are those cases, but. even aside from those, I mean, I spent a. lot of time looking at the year 1974. um because it seemed really active in.

terms of uh what was happening with. serial killers around the country and in. in the Northwest. And it was the. famously the year when when Bundy really. kind of broke free of any restraints he. might have once had and and began. uh abducting uh women basically kind of. like once a month um during that year. And in 1974, I found at least six active.

serial killers in Seattle or along the. I5 corridor who were all kind of working. at the same time. >> Wow. >> And that seems like a lot to me. Um, and. just looking at Tacoma, uh, the rate of violent crime really. skyrocketed, uh, in 1974, um, and in the mid70s, it's just started. going up and up and up. Uh, and you see.

this, uh, unfortunately across the. country, the vi rate of violent crime in. the 70s and 80s rose to heights that had. not been seen before. >> And is in this country, >> are there other factors? So there's. leaded gasoline which is a major factor. Um but what other factors do you think. in terms of like environmental toxins. and things like why 1974? Well there are various theories that.

have been put forth. I mean people have. pointed out that in the mid70s was when. the baby boom generation which was you. know large in terms of of its um. uh population density. that those people uh had started to kind. of come of age. They they'd entered the. period when you're most likely to commit. crimes which is your 20s um or 30s. And. so there was that there was a lot of.

economic uncertainty. There was a. recession. Nixon, you know, was in the. White House early on in the 70s. There. was the Vietnam War. There had been a. lot of uh violence during the the 60s. Um and so people point to those factors. uh as contributing to this as well. Um, but I think also, you know, based on the. the science that's being done, you do.

need to look at at the toxins that were. um becoming really really prevalent. The. lead uh cadmium is another heavy metal. that's very similar um to lead in the. body in terms of its association with. aggression. Um zinc, manganese, all. these things were being. >> zinc. >> Yeah. think is associated with. aggression. >> I don't know that it's associated with. aggression, but it's one of these things. that was forming the the um exposure to.

partic particulate pollution which is. now associated with all kinds of um. health problems, you know, heart. problems. I mean, lead is a is a toxin. It's a poison. And so you put it in the. body and it becomes, you know, it's very. uh uh easy for that to reach your brain. Um and.

what happens is that you know, especially if you're exposed to a lot of. this stuff, you can be sick in in all. kinds of ways. You can get health uh. heart problems. Um it's now been. associated with uh various forms of. dementia, Alzheimer's. um. uh ALS. Um so there's a lot of things that lead. can cause but they have shown. statistically that the um increase in.

lead in the population uh in the air in. the mid70s. um really may have contributed to a rise. in violent crime. >> What year did they start putting lead. and gasoline? Well, they invented the stuff in the. 1920s, but you know, just thinking back. to those early decades, not that many. people had cars, you know, and there was. a big depression, of course, in the. 1930s, >> so there's not a lot of driving uh.

happening in terms of the the what we. see now. I mean, yeah, the the it just. wasn't as as big of a deal. um it was, you know, rare to have one. car, much less, you know, two or or. three. And then during the war, you had, I mean, the war, World War II, is really. interesting to look at in terms of lead. because I have a sort of little chapter.

about this because. during World War II, gasoline, of. course, was rationed. you know, they. needed all of it for the war effort, but. the war effort itself um raised the. amount of metals, all these metals, lead, copper, uh etc. were needed so. intensively for the war that they began. to be produced more than at any other. time in world history. And so the.

pollution from that, you know, from. producing all these, you know, tanks and. vehicles and planes and everything that. they needed uh was really going to form. the basis of what would become the super. fund program because a lot of the super. fund sites in this country can be traced. back to World War II. And so that's when. a lot of the stuff started entering.

um the environment. Uh and once it's. there, it's really hard to get rid of. it. I mean, that's the problem with. lead. It doesn't wash away. It doesn't. go anywhere. It just hangs around and uh. becomes, you know, part of our. environment. It becomes dust that is, you know, in people's houses or their. addicts. Um and and that I think is what. people eventually started you know when.

when after the war people started. driving lots and lots more you know in. the 50s and 60s uh this country. particularly was um doing really well. economically and everybody was buying. cars and driving them for the first time. um you know in mass and. >> in history in human history. >> That's right. And so it's really becomes. I think a a heavy um pollutant around. that time. And so by the 70s the kids.

who had been you know born in the 50s. they're starting to show the effects of. lead poisoning. >> I have a friend who uh briefly lived in. Brooklyn and uh he had a very small. backyard that he was going to try to. grow some plants in grow grow a small. garden. Um but he uh did some soil. samples. He's a very very intelligent. guy. Did some soil samples and sent it. to university to get it tested and it. was just filled with lead and he was.

like what is this all about? And they. was like it's all from leaded gasoline. So this was in the 2000s. So I think. this was around 2012 2013. And they had told him there's a few. things that you could do. There's. certain plants that you could grow that. would remove some of it from the soil. other than completely excavating and. replacing it with fresh soil. But his. whole backyard was essentially lead. poisoned. >> Yeah, it's um.

>> when you ride alone, you ride with. Hitler. Join a car sharing club today. That was. during the the gas rationing days. >> Crazy. That was the craziest one. Have. you really tried to save gas by getting. into a gas club? They do it. So can we. Oh, clown cars. What is that? A wagon. What is that? >> It's a bunch of soldiers in the. >> soldiers. Oh, okay. Wow. So, they were just This was all. just about gas rationing.

Wow. >> Save fuel to make munitions for the. battle. >> Wow. The daughter who heaped on the. coal. Wow. They're mad at her. Look at. her. Oh, no. I'm trying to stay warm and. stay alive. Wow. So, um, is there an uptick in violence in. these areas where they were, um, making. stuff for the war effort, where they. would be polluting the area.

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know, what happened in Tacoma is is very. well recorded now. Um, another city. where this happened was El Paso, Texas. because. >> um, Asarco had uh another major smelter. um in El Paso that had started in the. 1890s. and had been spewing this stuff out for. decades. Uh but all of the smelters. during the war were kind of um they.

weren't taken over by the government but. the government introduced all kinds of. you know price fixing and and so forth. to to make it um not possible for these. companies to raise prices. um astronomically and and and a lot of. the stuff was requisitioned for the war. effort. So in El Paso by the 1970s they. were starting to discover that um this. whole area around the smoke stack of the.

smelter uh was heavily uh lead. contaminated. Um and what I you know just I thought. well El Paso that's interesting but. there were no serial killers in El Paso. And so I Googled that and like you know. within a minute I discover that Richard. Ramirez, the Nightstalker, um grew up in El Paso, not very far from.

the smelter. And. >> you know, we associate him now with Los. Angeles because that's where he. committed most of his murders, but he. did not grow up there. >> Wow. So this association with um these. chemicals and violence and so this is. well known and is if you could look at a. map of the areas where this is the. biggest problem. Is there also a.

correlation with an uptick in violent. crime and an uptick in serial killers? Like is it not just Pacific Northwest? Is it around El Paso as well? >> Yeah. But when you start looking up, okay, well, what's the crime rate, the. violent crime rate in El Paso? And yes, that starts going up um in the 1970s. Uh and so there there does seem to be an. association with this. There's a guy. named Rick Nevin who was uh who is an an.

economist and social scientist and he. put together. um a paper about this that which was. published online that includes about you. know 45. graphs of all these different um. u you know showing the rise in violence. ing crime, the rise in teen pregnancies, the which is sort of how women come into.

it. The the impulsivity. um seems to have perhaps uh led to uh a. real rise in teen pregnancies in the 70s. and 80s. Um which you you know if you'll. remember that was kind of a big thing. then. >> Yeah. >> Um. >> and also tied is this also tied to the. sexual revolution? I mean, and and then. also when was birth control, like oral. birth control introduced?

>> I think that was in the 1960s, early 60s that that first becomes. available. I can't tell you exactly what. year. Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm sure. that there is some. >> there's a bunch of other factors. It's. not like we can pin everything on lead. and arsenic, but that's right. >> But there's contributing factors. And of. course, people, you know, always point. out, well, you know, not everybody in. Tacoma and El Paso became a serial.

killer, which of course is true. >> Well, it's like what you're talking. about Ted Bundy, there's a bunch of. factors that lead this person to. becoming that, but. >> also lead. >> Yeah. I mean, you know, as I say. somewhere in the book, a little um extra. lead, you know, may have been uh. something that, you know, maybe they had. a lot of other factors to begin with, abuse, uh poverty, um in the 1950s, a lot of babies were.

delivered uh with forceps, which caused. brain damage in a certain percentage of. of kids. Um, so I think you're looking. at a lot of different um things that. contributed to trauma to the brain. You. know, I think now they're really. focusing on that, you know, in terms of. CTE and, you know, brain damage. We see. that now in football players who've had. um head trauma repeatedly that this.

causes um can cause violence and. aggression. >> and impulsivity, right? >> A huge issue. >> Yeah. It's fascinating that it also. exists in women who have not had head. trauma and the correlation between teen. pregnancies and things along those lines. that you're just just all it would take. is like a slight percentage more of. impulsivity and then you would see a. corresponding.

result of that. >> Not making great decisions about what. you're doing. >> The gas thing, the lead in the gas thing. is just crazy. It's just crazy to know. that that was all done because someone. couldn't patent ethanol. They couldn't patent other formulations. that would lead to the same result, but. I mean same result in terms of not. having gas uh making your engine knock, but wouldn't be as profitable for this. person. >> Yeah. and.

>> so twisted. >> You know, it may be worth mentioning or. describing what a smelter does for. people because I think people are not um. familiar with that anymore. We don't. have them uh in our cities uh anymore. But you know what these things were were. these giant uh primary smelter is to. melt rock. you know, it was like taking. the rocks from mines that were full of. all these different metals. Um, you.

know, including arsenic. This is where. the arsenic came from. Um, but they were. full of metals like, you know, lead and. copper and silver and gold and melting. those rocks in these giant. uh furnaces. And all of this put off an enormous. amount of pollution, you know, particulate pollution that was going up. the smoke stack. And they were, you. know, the companies that ran these. things were keeping all the valuable.

metals that they could for themselves, you know, the silver and the copper and. and all of that. And so they did have. filters on them. But one of the things. that happened sometimes with these. smelters is that they would kind of fail. or the filters would fail. There's this. horrifying. example in Idaho. Uh it was a company. called Bunker Hill that was one of the. largest silver mines I think in the.

world. Um and they had a lead smelter in. this town called Kellogg which is right. on I90. If you've ever driven on I90, you know, from Missoula, Montana or. something like that to Seattle, you've. driven through this place. And they. built, you know, this this giant uh. smelter facility to to handle all the. stuff they were pulling out of the. mines. And in 1973,

they had a fire in their filtration. um building that destroyed most of the. filter uh that was trying, you know, the. thing that was supposed to keep lead. from going up the smoke stack. And there were kids in this town. There. were there was an elementary school. right across the street from the smoke. stack. >> Jesus. And and the descriptions of that.

school are so horrifying because the. teachers used to think that sometimes. that the um that the facility had caught. fire because there was so much smoke. >> Oh god. >> Um but in fact it was there wasn't you. know it was just what the smoke stack. was putting out. But after that filter. failed, um that company, which was owned. by Gulf and Western at the time, um did. a kind of back of the napkin calculation.

of what those kids' lives were worth. because they felt like, okay, we're. going to get sued if we keep running the. plant without filtration, but is that. really going to matter? Because these. kids' lives are probably only worth. about $11 million a piece. >> Oh my god. >> And our profits are such that it makes. more sense to keep operating regardless. of what happens to these kids.

>> Oh my god. And we know this because of. the lawsuits that were ultimately filed. because, you know, they they did end up. in court. And there were kids, there was. a a baby who was um more uh lead. poisoned than any human being that the. doctors had ever seen. So it says here. that after it destroyed the the fire. broke out that destroyed the filters. Says for the next year and a half the.

smelter continued to operate and dust. polluted with heavy metals rain down on. the area. During that time children. living in the area were screened for. lead by the state and the US center for. disease control and the results were. foroding. Children in Kellogg for. example averaged 50 micrograms per. deciliter of blood. The CDC recommends. five micrograms high enough to warrant. concern. And children with levels above. 45 micrograms are advised to undergo. chelation therapy which involves.

administrating compounds like I don't. know how to say that word. >> How do you say that word? >> I don't know. >> Die captoic. acid either orally or introvenously to. remove heavy metals from the. bloodstream. Lead is a neurotoxin linked. to schizophrenia. Poor academic. performance. low cognitive ability and. attention deficit hyperactivity. disorder. Once the metal gets into the. blood, it concentrates in the brain, the. kidneys, the liver, and the bones. In. pregnant women, lead can cross into the.

placenta, poisoning their unborn babies. Holy [ __ ]. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was a nightmarish. thing. And. >> look at this. It says, "Oh my god.". And so listen to this. Slowly poison. As. a teenager in Kellogg, Ohio, Flory, this. person I talk about, attended the Silver. King School built in 1928 in the gul. gulch between Bunker Hill lead smelter. and zinc plant, an offshoot of the.

Cordelane River flowed by the school. It. was, says Flory, a light glowing green. color, sort of a glow, like a glow. stick. Oh god. In 1973, a fire broke. out. And so this is the the fire that we. were talking about. Oh my god. A light. glowing green color. >> Yeah. >> [ __ ] I used to live in um New Jersey. right by the um in in um Jersey City.

>> Oh yeah. right by the uh Liberty State. Park, which a bunch of the acreage of. that was off limits to people because it. was so polluted. Yeah. >> And I remember, you know, cuz you could. actually walk from my apartment in. Jersey City to Liberty Liberty State. Park, but you had to go by this, you. know, place that was crushing cars, one. of those facilities where they um.

compact cars. And I mean, there was all. this he heavy industry there and and. pollutants and you had to walk across. this little wooden trail over a a stream. um to get to the park and the water was. that color. I mean, it was like. >> this disgusting, you know, color not. found in nature. And you just looked at. it and thought, what what is that? What's in that? And. this is in the United States of America.

where we have at least some kind of. regulations. >> Just imagine what is happening when. these companies are allowed to ship off. to third world countries where there's. no regulation and they're bribing. officials and just polluting everything. >> Yeah. I mean, that's what happened with. the SARCO, you know, at it at once the. EPA had sort of got started and and the. various uh clean air and clean water.

acts were passed and and. legislation about what you could do in. the workplace because I mean, imagine. what it was like to work in these um. smelters. It was. >> um it just basically became illegal to. operate them and the companies could no. longer afford. >> to do it. So they all pretty much went. out of business in the 1980s. But it it it is just an incredible sort.

of time in America because it was like, well, what's the tradeoff here? You. know, the the profits are worth much. more than people's lives. Yeah. and that. place uh the Cordeline. um you know there's a town city called. Cordelene in Idaho but there's also this. giant lake uh Lake Cordelene and all. that pollution from Bunker Hill from the. mines from the um smelter it all went.

down river and is now sitting at the. bottom of Lake Cordelene and that's been. a super fun uh project for many many. years, but they really can't clean that. up because it's it's the kind of thing. where. >> you try to remove the sediment that's. full of all the lead and stuff and it. >> stirs everything up and so it's really. really almost impossible to to clean.

>> a lot of that stuff. Yeah, we were. talking about this the other day that. you really shouldn't even eat freshwater. fish because freshwater fish the the. problem is because of all the pollutants. that settle into these lakes. When you. don't have flowing water, freshwater. fish is just sitting in all these. chemicals and all these heavy metals. And it's it's, you know, it's really. disturbing. Like if you eat freshwater.

fish, your exposure to forever chemicals. is like ridiculously high. Like what. what was the number? We we pulled it up. the other day, but. it it's akin to like eating one. freshwater fish is akin to I believe. it's like a year of exposure to forever. chemicals. >> Yikes. >> Yeah. BPAs and all these different. disgusting. things that are a part of our world that. we didn't know until it was too late.

Eating one freshwater fish equals a. month of drinking forever chemicals. water. Oh my god. PFAS found in high levels in freshwater. fish with most concern for vulnerable. communities. I I remember we did this. television show once and uh we were in. Detroit and Detroit which is notoriously. very poor and at one point in time was. the third richest city in the world. Um.

but when we were there, these people. were uh fishing in this lake. Really. obviously very poor people. Um and just. catching food in this lake. And I was. like, "Oh my god." Like what are these. people eating? Like this is clearly. polluted water. And it was just outside. of a plant. And you know, they had no choice. They. needed food. And so they they went. there. They're poor. And who knows. what's what kind of health consequences.

these poor people are suffering from. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely the the poor. communities that get the worst. >> And the thing is it's like. >> 150 years ago. all that was pristine. It's a such a. short amount of time. If you think about. how long those lakes existed, how long. these river systems existed, and in a. couple of hundred years, >> we've ruined everything essentially. forever. >> for profit.

>> Yeah. Absolutely. >> And they knew it. And that's what's. sick. >> The thing you're telling me about this. smelting plant and the fire in Idaho and. the fact that they knew and they they. made a back of a napkin calculation as. to these children's lives. That is so. disgusting. >> It's so It's so hard to believe that. that's how people operate, but yet I. know they do. >> Yeah. I mean, it's it's murder. >> And that's why called it murder land. You know, I think that the behavior of.

these corporate actors was as bad. I. mean, it's, you know, maybe pernitious. to compare, but I think that, you know, people have come to see that the ways. that corporations have behaved is. murderous. you know that they're not I. mean aside from you know just the issue. of taking responsibility. they're just going to go ahead with what. they want to do and make the profits.

that they want and leave us to pay the. price and that I think is something that. in a sane world would have to change. You know we would have to look at what a. corporation wants to do before they. start doing it. Yeah. >> You know, and and figure out, okay, well, if they want to proceed with this, how do we prevent the damage that could. occur? And if they can't figure out how.

to prevent it, they shouldn't be. operating. >> Also, they lie. >> They lie. whatever they're going to tell. us. I mean, we've found this out from. pharmaceutical drug companies that when. they run studies, they'll run 10 studies. that show damage and they'll find one. study that they can kind of manipulate. into showing some sort of efficacy and. then they'll publish that one study and. bury the other studies that show damage. and then release a product and then have. internal emails where they show that.

they know that this is going to cause. problems. And this is the issue with the. drug vio that wound up killing somewhere. in the neighborhood of 60,000 Americans. And I know people don't like to equate. those people with serial killers. But. what else would you call that? What else. would you call if you know that you're. going to kill people? >> Yeah. >> But you're also going to make money and. you decide let's do it anyway, right? >> Let's do it anyway. Let's make some.

money. and 60,000 people die because of. it. And then who knows how many people. also survived but got strokes and it's a. large number. >> Yeah. It's now very difficult to figure. out how many people were directly. and indirectly harmed by these smelters. because of the destruction of evidence. Um many of them had sort of you know. people on staff who were whose job it.

was to put out false information. in. Tacoma, there was a guy, a doctor at the. smelter, um, who wrote false papers saying that, oh, the workers, uh, aren't being harmed. by exposure to arsenic when in fact his. numbers showed that um, people who. worked at the plant were dying of an. elevated percentage of lung cancer. And.

he suppressed that information. And he. said, you know, he said their deaths. were from heart failure, which everybody. dies of heart failure, you know, so he. basically was falsifying. uh the information from their death. certificates and publishing papers, you know, designed to make it look like. arsenic wasn't a poison. >> and probably nicely rewarded by the. corporation for doing that. It's a this.

is just this issue of diffusion of. responsibility. when you have this obligation to your. shareholders to continually make each. quarter generate more income. And then. you have to figure out how to do that. And then you realize like I'm just a. part of a big thing. I'm just going to. do my job to get more money. I'm not. going to think about the consequences. I'm just going to put blinders on and. think about my vacation home that I'm. going to get out of all this. Yeah. I. mean, it's, you know, what you said.

about the lying is really true. And this. is what you see in serial killers, you. know, that they lie about everything. They they lie about stuff they don't. even need to lie about. It's just. >> it's their. own. >> Yeah. It's they're just so inured to it. and they want to get away with what. they're doing. >> They should have went for corporate. America. should have worked worked for. them and they could have got away with. it. They might have been fine,

>> never got caught. I mean, I just I. wonder how many people who are working. for these chemical corporations and how. many how many exhibit the exact same. traits as serial killers. They just. don't want to get intimate and actually. physically cause the murder, but get. some sort of a bizarre thrill out of. knowing that they're doing this kind of. damage to people for profit. Yeah, I think that kind of psychopathy. is maybe more common than we would like. to think.

>> Yeah, we don't want to think about it. We don't want to think about sociopaths. We don't want to think about. psychopaths. And sociopaths and. psychopaths, there's a lot of overlap. We don't want to think about what. percentage of us exhibit these traits. where we have zero empathy, >> right? >> And there's a lot of people like that. that have zero. But I mean, I know. people like that that have no empathy. They don't care if other people get. hurt. And I don't understand it, but I. don't have whatever is wrong with them. And I want I always wonder like is that. nature? Is that nurture? Is are we.

dealing with environmental toxins? There's exposure to something at a young. age. Like what is it. >> that causes that? Is it. >> Well, I think it can be um brain damage, you I mean that what happens to the. frontal cortex of these uh kids who are. exposed to to lead and cadmium is that. certain parts of the brain fail to. develop uh correctly. And so and you can.

see the the deficits, the little holes. that are supposed to be full of. something that helps you make good. decisions. you know, the part of your. brain that helps you control yourself. and control your behavior. That's kind. of missing in in some of these um kids. And they have shown now that the effects. are worse in men than they are in women. that the you know the the damage to the. frontal cortex the neur neurology.

um is is more marked in men and they can. see this on the MRI scans. um and I think there's you know I don't. know that they know why that's happening. but it does seem to be u you know real. effect that they're writing papers. about. >> Well it does take longer for men to. develop their frontal cortex. That's why. men are so stupid when they're young and. women are much more mature younger. Like.

a, you know, a 20-year-old woman is. probably far more mature than a. 25-year-old man. And a lot of that they. think has to do with the frontal lobe. >> Yeah. I mean, it obviously is some, you. know, incredibly important um discovery. what they make of that and and how it's. all going to, you know, come out in the. wash in terms of what can be done to. help kids who have these issues. That I.

think is is another story. It's just so. twisted when you think about the fact. that this is all. a fairly new thing. Like this chemical. exposure, chemical exposure and. pollutant exposure is a fairly new thing. in terms of like human history. You. know, as we're gaining this. understanding of how the human brain. develops, which is also a fairly new. thing, we're also dealing with this. thing that we did collectively as the. human race. this thing that we did where.

we introduced these. >> insane chemicals. >> into the brains of children. >> and and in this case like in Idaho. knowingly. >> calculated. >> and one of the things that sort of blows. my mind is that we've known for. centuries for eons that these things are. bad you know I mean the Romans and the. Greeks knew that lead caused you know.

people to go crazy. I mean, they had. people who worked with lead, you know, in foundaries and things then and they. knew it was a problem. We've known that. arsenic is a poison since forever. And yet, you know, comes along the 20th. century and somehow these these. corporations are telling communities, including the community on Vashon. Island, you know, oh, arsenic is really. not a problem. You know, the the human.

body just excretes it naturally. you know, all kinds of just crazy. arguments were being put forward to to. justify what they were doing. >> I found out at one point in time my life. that had a a disturbing level of arsenic. in my system. I went to get blood work. done and my doctor said, "Uh, you have a. concerning level of arsenic." And he. started asking me about my diet and uh I. said, "I eat a lot of sardines." He's.

like, "Stop doing that." I He goes, "How. much do you eat?" like three or four. cans a night. He's like, "Don't do. that.". >> Wow. >> So, because sardines spend their time in. the bottom of the ocean, >> right? >> Like that's where all the heavy metals. accumulate. >> Yeah. >> And I was getting arsenic from eating. cans of sardines. I stopped eating the. sardines. >> I waited like few months. I went back, got more blood work, and it's gone. >> Wow. >> I was like, "Wow.". >> Yeah. I mean, there actually are two.

kinds of arsenic. There's organic. arsenic which you can get from seafood. And if you're eating a lot of, you know, shrimp or sardines or or whatever, it. can build up. And I think that that form. of arsenic is is slight is less toxic. and less of a problem. You don't want. it. >> I mean, as your doctor. >> said, don't don't do that. >> That's crazy. >> Yeah. But the the stuff that they were.

producing at the smelter in in Tacoma. was was what's called inorganic arsenic. And that's the stuff they used to poison. rats. And they used it for insecticides. and and um very heavily at you know. during the 40s and 50s they were uh. putting it all over apple orchards and. cherry orchards and cotton crops. Um so. those places were then um contaminated.

with arsenic and Washington state now. has four plumes of this pollution. The. the big one was in Puget Sound from the. smelter which was like a thousand square. miles of Puget Sound that was. contaminated. Um but also Wan that which is over in. eastern Washington where they have all. these apple orchards. Um there's another. plume there from from those uh.

pesticides and and insecticides. >> And there's a couple more there. There's. another plume up in Everett where there. was a what they called an arsenic. kitchen. Um, the Rockefellers used to. own uh mines up in the Cascade Mountains. and they had a smelter in Everett that. was then bought by the Guggenheims and. they moved their arsenic kitchen to. Tacoma, but it left all this pollution.

in Everett. And so they discovered, you. know, all these people had built houses. and condos and things on top of where. the arsenic kitchen had been, which, you know, that stuff was never. cleaned up. And so they had to, you. know, I think they had to buy those. properties and remediate. >> So how do Yeah. this term remediation, like how does one remediate a piece of.

land, like a 5 acre plot of land that. you plan on building a beautiful house. on Vashan Island on? Like, how how do. how do they do that? >> Well, five acres of ground that's. poisoned. >> Yeah. In in Tacoma, what they did, that. was where the worst of the pollution was. cuz the smoke stack was getting sitting. right, you know, near the water. Um the. smoke stack was blown up in the 90s. Um. and and they.

>> blown up. >> Yeah. They exploded the the smoke stack. which I'm. >> on purpose. >> Yeah. They they you know they closed the. plant in 1986. >> Oh, so it's a control demolition. >> Yeah. So it was a Yes, exactly. >> which also probably contributed greatly. to more. >> pollutants. They claimed that they. cleaned the inside of the smoke stack. but. >> before they blew it up. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, so yeah, in Tacoma they they. carted away tons of soil. They took, you.

know, they went into people's yards. They tested all of the yards and told. people, "Okay, you're going to have to. replace the soil." Um, and and so yeah, they went in and they by this point, a. sarco had declared bankruptcy. and the EPA eventually had to take over. the whole thing. Um, but they, you know, the EPA got an un anprecedented. uh environmental. uh bankruptcy settlement out of a sarco,

which was close to $2 billion. Um, I. think it was the highest settlement that. they'd ever gotten from a corporation, but it had to clean up about 20. different uh super fund sites, including. the one in Idaho in Cordelene, which. they've, you know, they've been working. on that for years and still haven't. finished. But in Tacoma, they actually. did replace the soil in many, many. people's yards. Um, but you know, they.

run out of money. I mean, I think on. places like Vashon, um, a lot of that was on the southern. part, uh, I think you could request, uh, soil replacement, um, in some of these. places, but it wasn't necessarily. guaranteed depending on where you lived. >> Well, that's also so destructive to the. ecosystem. So, you're taking out. everything. >> Yeah. that allows these plants to live, animals,

mycelium, all all the different the. network that can connects all these. plants together. You're pulling all that. stuff out and introducing new soil. >> Yeah. >> And you're not going to do it. everywhere. You're you're not going to. get all of it out. There's no way. You're not going to be able to do the. whole island. You're not going to be. able to do like every inch of Tacoma, all the land. >> Yeah. And of course they have to take. that soil somewhere. So in Tacoma they. they took it to some special. >> landfill. But I mean, one of the really.

crazy things that happened as a result. of closing the smoke stack um there was. that they took that arsenic kitchen that. I was talking about, the one that had. been up in in Everett and some of the. most contaminated parts of the buildings. that were part of the whole smelter. compound. And the the. Assaro promised that they were going to. take all that stuff and put it somewhere.

else. I don't know where they were going. to put it, but they said they were going. to take it, but then they went bankrupt. And so they didn't remove it and instead. they created this very bizarre. um kind of. pit with where they put all the worst. stuff including a bunch of the soil, the. contaminated soil from Everett and the. arsenic kitchen and they put it in a.

sort of super heavyduty plasticlined. you know garbage bag essentially. I. mean, if you can imagine like the. largest garbage bag in the world, they. put all this stuff in it and they capped. it with soil and that thing is sitting. there, you know, still even though they. have now um you know, they cleared off. the whole uh area where the compound. was, where the factories and the the. furnaces were, and they built condos on.

top of that. >> Oh my god. But behind the condos is this. giant hump. >> of contaminated. stuff in a giant plastic garbage bag. >> Do they tell the people that live in. these condos. what they're dealing with? Well, there's. this there's a very small um historical. dis display display with some. photographs and and materials about the. smelter that's in uh you know in one of.

the buildings on the way to the public. bathroom. >> Oh my god. So presumably if the people who are. buying condos there know anything about. it they probably. >> they probably think it's cleaned up. history but they think it's. >> and in a sense it has been cleaned up. I. mean but. >> in a sense. >> but also doesn't it leak into the water. table? >> Well they have a lot of stuff that. they've done. I mean in the in the book.

I talk about you know you know Frank. Herbert who wrote Dune. >> he was from Tacoma. >> and he in fact the stuff in Dune about. the pollution and what has happened to. the planet you know that that he. dramatized a lot of that came from his. disgust with the smelter. >> um and and you know a planet that had. basically destroyed its whole. environment. Um, and now they have uh, you know,

developed this whole little park on one, you know, the condos are on one end of. this what used to be the smelter. property and then on the other end on. top of this slag land. The slag is the. stuff that's left over after you've. pulled all the metal out of the rocks. There's the stuff that once it's cooled. off looks like gravel.

and it's called slag, but it isn't. really gravel. I mean, it's um. contaminated with all this stuff. it's. contaminated with arsenic and and so. they built a park that's called Dune. Park and it's dedicated to Frank Herbert. and it's this little walking trail and. the whole thing I think is developed in. such a way that um it's kind of lined. with plastic and there's a plastic liner. you know on the um shores to keep stuff.

from leaking out and like if you live in. one of those condos, you can't plant. anything that will be larger than a, you. know, small shrub in part because of the. plastic liner thing. >> Oh my god. >> Yeah, it's it's wild. >> That's so crazy. It's so disturbing. And then there's so.

many factors too, right? There's the. plants and then there's the. industrial pesticides. Have you ever read dissolving illusions? uh Suzanne Humphre wrote this book about. and one of the aspects of the book is. about DDT. >> and the ubiquitous use of DDT and how so. many people in rural communities were. coming down with in air quotes polio.

>> paralytic polio that was directly. correlated to the use of DDT like the. same areas where people and it wasn't. just human beings beings that were. getting this polio, but it was also cows. and horses and dogs. They were getting. paralyzed as well, which it doesn't. cross species. Human derived polio does. not cross species. It's a very dark. story. >> And you want to hear something crazy?

What percentage of polio do you think is. asymptomatic? >> I've never heard that there's polio. that's asymptomatic. >> 95 to 99%. 95 to 99% of actual polio is. asymptomatic. Wow. >> So what they were calling polio was most. likely DDT poisoning. >> Wow. >> That was sprayed everywhere. It was. sprayed everywhere for gypsy moths and. all all sorts of different pest. They. just. >> they didn't know. And then once they did.

know it was too late and they were just. trying to cover it up and saying, "No, we we cured burlio. We cured it. Look, and these people that were, you know, getting air quotes polio were most. likely getting poisoned by DDT. >> Yeah. I think that the, you know, a lot. of this environmental stuff has become. so overwhelming to people that they kind. of tuned it out. Yes. >> It's like, what are we going to do about. it? There's nothing we can do. So, like, >> right,

>> let's just pretend it's not happening. >> I make sure that I don't read any of. this stuff late at night. You know, when. I when I read stuff like this right late. late at night, I can't go to sleep. I. just I freak out. I just it just. disturbs me. Human beings their capacity. to do things like this either knowingly. or unknowingly and then to cover it up. knowingly and then to try to find some. way to profit off of the removal of it. or the treatment of these ailments that.

these people suffer. And then the. obfiscating and the you know diverting. the attention to some other thing like. calling it a disease or calling it. something else. Yeah. I mean that was one of the things. in my mind when I kind of wanted to. develop the whole thing about you know. put talking about serial killers and. violence and aggression and where that. might have come from because I you know. I wanted to talk about all that and I.

didn't want to just use it as a kind of. Trojan horse to introduce all the stuff. about pollution but I did think it was a. way to get people maybe to think about. these issues. who might not otherwise want to do that, you know, who who. >> um and I think people are interested in. the history of how they might have been, you know, exposed. When I when I did a a.

reading up in Seattle a month or so ago, you know, everybody was talking about. where they grew up in relation to the. smelter, like how close they were to it. Um, >> and you know, what they might have uh. experienced as a result. And that I. think is one of the interesting things. about the Tacoma story is that um many. poor people were directly exposed. You. know, the people who worked at the.

smelter, they lived right around the. smoke stack, so they got the worst of. it. Um, but there were a lot of other. communities in the area, including. Mercer Island, where I grew up, which is. now kind of a famously wealthy, you. know, some of the, you know, Microsoft. people have houses there or, you know, I. think Paul Allen had house there. Um, uh, and it was when I was a kid growing.

up there, it was a wellto-do upper. middle class, um, place. And one of the things I look. at in the book is some of the really. bizarre um crime that happened on the. island at that time that you wonder was. this, you know, in any way um related. to, you know, some of these things. We're talking about the rise in um lead. in the air from from leaded gas because.

uh Mercer Island is crossed by I90. I90. comes down out of the Cascades a and. crosses Mercer Island which is sitting. in the middle of Lake Washington uh and. ends up in Seattle. And so Mercer Island had a lot of. pollution from I90. Um, and it also was in the plume from. the Tacoma smelter. And while I was.

growing up there, some weird [ __ ]. happened. >> Like what kind of [ __ ]. >> Well, I lived on a street um that was. close to I90 and was actually kind of. ran over the top of a tunnel. um that enclosed I90 on part of the. island. And down the street from where I. grew up was growing up another young guy. named George Waterfield Russell who. turned out to be a serial killer. And in. the 1990s.

um killed three women on the east side. uh where Belleview is. Um. and so that is really kind of a striking. um. fact. you know, you don't expect um. serial killers to come from that kind of. a neighborhood. Not very far away from. where uh Russell grew up, this other guy. was also who went to my high school, as. did Russell, um was growing up, who.

became one of the worst arsonists in. Seattle history when he burned down his. parents' warehouse and killed several uh. Seattle firefighters. Um, so there were those two. There was a. guy um in my class at the high school. who. uh was obsessed with his ex-girlfriend. and went he he worked at a um a facility. that used dynamite and he stole some uh.

dynamite and um blasting caps and he. went and blew up her dorm building. Uh, and there was another kid who went. to my junior high who decided he was so. depressed he was going to kill himself. And he drove his car at like a 100 miles. an hour. It actually wasn't his car. It. was like his girlfriend's sister's. Camaro or something. And he drove it,

you know, at a million miles an hour. into the wall of the junior high. gymnasium and destroyed the gymnasium. So all this stuff is happening, you. know, in a in a period of time, you know, and in a place that you. wouldn't think would have that level of. crime. >> and that kind of crime. >> and that kind of crime. >> and oddly enough always men. >> Yeah. >> Which are uniquely affected by these. things. But what so what about the women.

that were there? Was there was there. bizarre behavior. that you might think. could be attributed to these toxins? >> You know, I don't really know how to. answer that. I mean, I think that there. was. um. one of the things that I remember about. the high school, for example, was, you. know, that they there was a lot of um. kind of creepy behavior, you know, going.

on uh in terms of food fights and just a. lot of stuff you I don't think you see. as much now. Um, I mean I, this is. completely anecdotal, so I can't support. any of this, but it just it felt to me. like when my niece and nephew were. growing up that that they were less um. troubled as youths, you know, than we. were in the 1970s, you know, they were. growing up in the um 90s, you know, and.

and I think there is a little bit of. that. I mean there there are. can't prove it. Um but I think that uh. it may be true that you know the whole. all the jokes about the baby boomers. being crazy because of um lead exposure. There may be a little bit of truth to. that. >> I mean it makes sense if it I mean it.

totally makes sense. I mean, if there. were elevated levels of all this lead, elevated levels of all these toxins, and. we know that it affects human behavior. I mean, it only makes sense. It It does. And And I, you know, I hope. that. one of the things my book might be able. to do is to encourage people to just. think about this in their, you know, in. their lives. And, um, I think a lot of. people are now much more aware of lead.

I mean that thing that you were showing. earlier about the Bunker Hill thing, it. said that five um micrograms per. deciliter of lead was the they've now. lowered that to 3.5. >> and and it really should be zero, you. know, because there is no amount of lead. that's safe. in terms of exposure and they know that. I think it just if the federal. government comes out and says it's zero,

then that triggers all kinds of things. that have to happen and it makes parents. freak out because, you know, they might. take their child to a doctor and have. them tested and find out there's some, you know, if it's not zero, then what. are we what are we going to do about it? And it's, you know, >> and who's liable? >> That's right. >> Yeah. That's what's so disturbing about. all this stuff is that a lot of effort. is put forth to make sure that whatever.

companies that may be liable, they. they'll try to distort facts and try to. hide evidence and try to make it seem. like this is just this is a nothing. burger. This is no big deal. But you see. that with fluoride. You know, we've been. putting fluoride in the water forever. supposedly to help people with tooth. decay. And then you're seeing that. there's a direct correlation between. high levels of fluoride in the water and. lowered IQs. And yet there's still. people out there that are saying, "Oh,

we need we you're gonna see a bunch of. tooth decay. We need to put the fluoride. back in the we need to stop this." Why? Well, because people are profiting off. of putting fluoride in water. There's. enormous corporations that are. responsible for that fluoride and they. provide that fluoride to the drinking. water. and under the guise of improving. dental health, which is just crazy. because you don't need it. Like you. could just brush your teeth and stop. eating so much [ __ ] sugar, which is.

really the culprit. That's really 100%. the culprit. I mean, if you go back to. ancient times, one of the things they've. seen, they find um like. skulls and dead people's teeth from, you. know, hundreds of years ago. You don't. you don't find a massive amount of tooth. decay because people weren't eating a. lot of sugar. They weren't constantly. eating candy and stuff that rots your. [ __ ] teeth out. It's We don't need to. stop We don't need to put this. neurotoxin into water.

>> We need to stop eating poison. It's like. really simple. You don't add a poison to. make you better because there's more. poison. Like it's really crazy. And. these are like hardcore facts. This is. not something that's deniable. Like if. you look at the correlation between. fluoride and and lowered IQs, it's. pretty undeniable. They know it's a. fact. They know it's a neurotoxin, but. yet they'll brush it off. Oh, but that's.

in high doses, and low doses. Like, well, who's determining who's. determining? There has there there. hasn't been a long history of human use. of fluoride in drinking water. It's. fairly recent. It's I believe it goes. back into the early 20th century. It's. crazy. >> Yeah. Well, it is. I mean, they always. say the dose makes the poison. And I. suppose that that that's true. >> Oh, I'm sure it's true. But I mean, it's. zero amount is good for you. And this is.

not a smart thing for people to do. It's. why you're not supposed to eat. toothpaste. that has fluoride in it. They tell you to spit it out. Why? Because it's got fluoride in it and. fluoride is [ __ ] bad for you, right? >> So, why are we putting it in toothpaste. in the first place? Like, help me out. You're just trying to clean teeth, right? Like, why do you have to use. fluoride? Well, you don't. That's why. they sell fluoride free toothpaste and. they advertise it as such. If fluoride. was a thing that was helping everyone. with tooth decay, why the hell would. anybody want to buy fluoride free.

toothpaste? Well, because people who. have been actually paying attention and. reading independent journalists and. reading people that have gone outside. the mainstream narrative that realize. like this is not good for you. Not only. is it not good for you, it probably. should have been removed from our water. supply a long time ago. So, who's. responsible? And then it gets into that. It gets into like these corporations. that have been dumping fluoride into the. water or justifying the use of fluoride. politicians that have been doing it, who's been getting paid, what's the.

paper trail, like what's going on? >> And it's just one more piece of. disgusting and disturbing evidence of. human depravity that people are willing. to do things that are just they know are. bad, but they profit. And and the. government is not, you know, completely. blameless in all of this either because, you know, in terms of of lead, for. example, one of the places that I think.

people are really concerned about is the. schools, you know, public schools, public school buildings were built, you. know, often decades ago. So, they're old. and they have old plumbing. They have. lead pipes, >> lead paint. >> Um, lead paint, >> which is even crazier that they use lead. and paint. >> Yeah. Like, >> and so there's, you know, there are real. questions about how much the government. is going to be on the hook for replacing. all of this stuff that has to happen,

which is, you know, so much money, right, >> in order to do that. And you know, they. they have occasionally kind of tiptoed. up to this. I think the the you know, the Biden administration did say that. they were going to spend, you know, millions of dollars to try and do work. at schools. Now, I think that's all in. question. And. so, yeah, it's a it's a kind of a. frightening period right now because the.

EPA is being defunded in a lot of ways. I'm sure the EPA is not a perfect. um agency. you know, I'm sure they've. made um mistakes, but they're the ones. >> I'm sure they've been compromised, but. also someone should be looking into. this, and you're going to need some sort. of an environmental group. >> that is responsible and just that can. look at these things and say, "Hey, this. is a real issue, and all of our health, >> right, >> is dependent upon them doing a really.

good job of sussing this stuff out." And. it's the EPA that's responsible for the. super fund program, which is in large. part responsible for cleaning this stuff. up, but they're being defunded, you. know, and so. who's going to do that? Who's going to. clean up, you know, the areas that have. radioactive. um, you know, legacy pollution from.

World War II, Hanford and all of that. I. mean, that stuff's been going on for. decades and it's not finished. >> Well, there's an area in France that is. the size of Paris that human beings. can't go into all because of the war. >> And what kind of. >> Well, you can find it. Jamie could find. it. So, I don't want to speak out of. tune about this, but munitions um you. like unexloded munitions and and just. where things got bombed where it's so.

toxic human beings can't live there. And. it's the size of Paris. It's like this. enormous chunk of land that's like it's. ruined probably forever. >> Yeah. I mean, and and there's got to be. some kind of of uh you know, government. intervention and stuff like this. There. there has to be the responsibility. because the corporations walked away, >> right? >> And so they can't, you know, is still.

exists, but it's now um operating out of. Mexico. Um. >> how convenient. >> Yeah, that's a whole story. >> There is zone rogue. uh World War I era. battlefields that are still dangerous. over a hundred years later. >> Wow. >> Yeah. So, the red zone is uh a chain of former. battlefields across north northeastern. France that the government has c.

coordined off due to the many dangerous. ordinance that remains from the first. world war. The area originally spanned. over 460 square miles from Nancy through. to Leil and incorporates such. battlefields as this, how do you say. that? S Verdun and uh Vimemy Ridge. While the size of the region has. lessened over the 100 plus years since. the end of the conflict, the area is. still characterized by the scars and. remnants of the Great War. >> Oh, so this is even World War I. Yeah.

All that chemical stuff that they were. >> crazy. Yeah. >> Using. >> Right. >> Wow. >> That's when they first started using. chemical warfare. >> Yeah. >> People are gross. >> I mean, they're awesome, too. Like, a. lot of people You're awesome. A lot of. people are awesome. A lot of people are. great. I love them. But like in large. groups when they don't have. responsibility for their actions, they're gross. It's it's uh it's very,

you know, the more you read about these. types of things like that you're. describing in your book and these um. horrible things that these corporations. have done, the the amount of pollution. that they've caused and the amount of. damage that they've done and then the. effects on untold millions of human. beings that have been exposed to these. things. It's just it's so disturbing. >> It's so disturbing that it just makes. you you know, like I said, I can't I.

can't read this stuff at night. If I. read this stuff at night, I I can't. sleep. I I wind up getting up in the. middle of the night and wandering around. my house and just it really freaks me. out. >> Yeah. I mean, I know a lot of people. have said things to me like, "How did. you write this book?" Like, "Weren't". and I think they're talking about the. serial killer part of it, >> right? Yeah. Um, which you know it is. really disturbing stuff and um, >> yeah, all of it is disturbing. The fact.

that serial killers exist, that's. disturbing. The fact that there might be. some sort of an environmental effect or. chemical effect that's causing some of. this behavior to take place. >> Well, but we did do the right thing in. terms of, you know, now every country in. the world that was selling leaded gas. has taken it off the market, >> right? So that was a good thing. We made some progress. And you know, again, this guy's graphs that he.

published show this that. >> who's this guy again? >> Rick Nevin. >> Um he wrote this uh book called Lucifer. Curves. Um see those which contain all. these these different graphs that show. this. And and what he has shown is that. there's one of them in in my book that. he let me reproduce. you know, the the. violent crime rate goes up and up in the. 70s and 80s, and then when they remove. >> um Yeah. When they remove.

>> Oh my god. >> Uh the the leaded gas, the crime rate. falls off a cliff. >> That is crazy. Look at this graph. It's. almost like it mirrors it. >> Yeah. All these graphs look exactly the. same. There's like. >> That's so crazy. >> Yeah, it's wild. Okay. So, look at this. Go scroll. Go up. a little bit first. So, murder from 1900. to 1959 versus paintled. >> Look at that.

>> Yeah. >> It's correlation. >> They're they're they're almost mirrored. >> Yeah. >> And then aggravated assault versus. gasoline lead. Same thing. It's like. they're they follow the same path. It's. nuts. Robbery versus gasoline lead. Look. at the drop off with the drop off of. gasoline lead. That is nuts. >> And it's the same thing with serial. killers. The number of serial killers in. the 70s and 80s and 90s goes up to the.

highest that we've seen, you know, about. 700 operating in this country during. that period. And then it just drops off. And that's why they call that the golden. age of serial killers. Wow. >> And now it's like, you know, 50 to 100. >> So I think there are always have been. serial killers, you know, throughout. history. I mean, there's Jack the. Ripper,

>> but you know, this guy talks about u. that whole period, you know, because. that was the industrial revolution. That. was a period when there was a lot of. lead paint being produced in England. Um, and so Jack the Ripper may have had. a little bit too much lead on top of. whatever else was wrong with them. I. mean, we don't even know who who he was, but. >> it makes me really think about Peaky. Blinders. You ever watch that show? >> Yes. >> That show was like,

>> it's almost like they filtered the whole. show. They did an amazing job with that. show. First of all, it's one of my. favorite series of all time. It's so. good. Um, but the show looks like it's in the. middle of like coal fog, you know, like everything is kind of. gray and and they did an amazing job of. recreating what life was like after the. war in that part of Europe. >> And that's what it looked like. >> Yeah. And coal includes a lot of.

compounds, right, that are really. dangerous to breathe. There was a whole. um uh thing that happened in London in. the 1950s. where they got uh I don't remember why. this happened but you know I mean it was. really difficult time for that country. after World War II there was a you know. economically they were really struggling. and I think they got um during one uh.

winter in the 1950s they got some really. bad quality coal. delivered um to London which caused this. horrific. uh smog event essentially that was so. heavy that people were killed just. trying to cross the street because you. couldn't see anything. >> Oh gosh. >> Um yeah, it was like there was a whole. episode of the crown that was devoted to. this. Um it was while Winston Churchill.

was was um prime minister. >> So it was like driving through fog. >> Yeah. And you know when I was a kid and. read books about England in that you. know in the earlier like Charles Dickens. or whatever you know we would talk about. fog all the time in London and I just. thought fog oh that's from you know the. ocean or something but it's not. It was. smog and it was smog from industry and. from coal fires. Um,

and I think they they paid kind of a. terrible price. >> Look at that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's what Peey Blinders looks. like. Like the whole the whole series. they it's almost like they did it. So. this is the themes river from 1952. Wow. Wow. Look at that guy. He's got a. [ __ ] mask on. >> Yeah. The great smog of 1952. That's. what it was. and and a lot of people who. had asthma died, you know, because it.

was so terrible. The era was just so. terrible. >> Wow. Two workers rest in an oxygen tent. in Pennsylvania from 1948. >> Yeah. There was a similar event in. Pennsylvania. >> Death fog. >> Yeah. Two shocking events still in living. memory from Queen Elizabeth's generation. because the Clean Air Act reinforce. enforcement. Reducing just one of the pollutants. targeted by the Clean Air Act added 1.6. years to the average American life. Wow.

>> Yeah. I think I think Puet Sound had a. problem that was caused by sort of the. geography of the area because. >> you know Puet Sound is kind of a trough. between. >> the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade. Mountains and so it's a low area and. during the you know certain times of the. year everybody used to heat their houses. with wood you know fires with. >> um uh you know Franklin stoves and stuff.

like that and. >> which is really bad for you. unfortunately. That's where coal comes. from. >> Right. Right. And so. >> when you buy charcoal, if you buy lump. charcoal, that's what that is. >> Yeah. So not as many people use that. anymore. And like when I was a kid, I. remember the skies being really gray a. lot, you know, especially during the. winter. And I think part of that was. from the smoke kind of settling in that. Puet Sound.

>> trough. between the mountains and they. would tell people sometimes they would. have a smoke they'd have a fire ban that. you couldn't use your wood stove. >> Wow. >> Um because of air. >> because of the air quality. And now I go. to, you know, the Northwest and to Puget. Sound and the air looks so much better. I mean, and it's like during the summer. it's just like I don't remember it being. like this.

So, I mean, that's just my experience, but I think it's true that the air. quality is is better. >> Well, it has to be. >> Yeah. >> And that's a very disturbing thing for. people. They don't want to hear. Like, you think of wood fire being natural, >> but it's actually really bad. >> Yeah. >> If everybody in the city of Austin. heated their home in the winter with. wood fires, it'd be a [ __ ] disaster. >> Yeah. It'd be really bad if everybody in.

New York City, like imagine, well, you. can't cuz it's apartments, but if it was. something where you had a chimney and. everybody had wood fire, it would be. terrible. It's great if you're camping. If it's just you, >> if it's just you and your friends and. it's a small wood fire, it's like. relatively speaking, it's not going to. cause too much damage. It's no big deal. But when you get a large group of human. beings, they're burning wood. Yeah. >> And you're all breathing that, it's just. like a fire. Like if you ever been. around a wildfire, it's terrible. The. air quality is awful. You know, Los.

Angeles uh has had a bunch of those. And. many times when I was living in LA, the. entire city was covered in smoke and. you're just you're breathing these. wildfire this wildfire smoke. >> Yeah. I mean, it's just undeniable, I. think, now. And and I think it's much, you know, people are really moving away. from having wood stoves and and. fireplaces for that very reason. >> It's so weird because you think of like,

oh, that's a comforting thing. Nice. fireplace. It's beautiful. >> You know, I I cook over hardwood all the. time. >> You know, it's like the best way. Like. you you have a smoker, an offset smoker, put a little bunch of uh oak in there, post oak, and you cook that way. But you. know what's coming out of that smoke. stack? >> Yeah. >> Nothing good. I mean, if you have one smoker, I'm sure. it's fine. It's no big deal. But if. everybody's doing it, it becomes an. issue. Especially if you have stagnant. air like you're talking about that.

trough. >> Yeah. I mean, so you know, we're we are. doing the right things in some respects. I mean, you know, we're moving away from. >> u heating houses with wood. We're, you. know, we stopped u, you know, putting. lead in paint. We stopped the leaded. gas. >> What do what do you know if anything. about gas, about natural gas cooking? Because this is one of the things during.

the Biden administration, they started. talking about removing gas kitchens and. gas stoves from people's homes and. people started freaking out like this is. crazy. You can't do this. This is so but. there seems to be some real data that. shows that having gas in your home uh is. not just dangerous but dangerous for the. development of children. >> Yeah. I mean, I I I am not an expert on. this, but um I am I am really concerned.

about what I've read uh in part because. I I have a gas stove. >> I mean, it completely makes sense. >> Yeah. And I I like cooking on gas, but. I've been really concerned about what. I've read and also about the, you know, again, the the industry suppression of. evidence about this stuff, >> right? Um, and you know, just the whole. thing of calling it natural gas. >> Right. Right. Right. >> I mean, >> arsenic's natural, too. >> Yeah. I mean,

>> there's a lot of natural stuff that's. terrible for you. >> Did we really fall for that? I mean, it's kind of heartbreaking if if it. turns out to have been, >> you know, as as concerning as they're. saying. And. >> Yeah. >> Well, you hear politicians talking about. clean coal. I've heard that term before, which is a. wild term to use. Clean coal. >> And it's [ __ ] Yeah. >> I mean, it's. >> It seems [ __ ]. >> Yeah. >> It's just.

>> Yeah. I I just. I mean, and I think, you know, as homo. sapiens, we're either going to get on. top of this stuff or it's going to get. on top of us. >> Yeah. Well, it seems like it already has. gotten on top of a generation. I mean uh. like I was talking about the leaded. gasoline contributing espec es. especially in. urban communities where you had to deal. with a lot of this exhaust and the.

pollution that there's a correlation. between lowered IQ statistically. significant correlation. >> and all the stuff they're talking about. now with plastics you know in the body. I mean, I read something this morning. that said that we're walking around with. the plastic accumulation in our brains. of enough plastic to make a spoon. >> Yes. Yeah. In our brains. >> And it's like, well, that can't be good.

>> No. >> I mean, I'm not an expert on the plastic. stuff, but everything you're seeing. about it is really alarming. And you. just have to think that unless we stop. using this stuff, unless we remove it. from production, >> um we're going to be in real trouble. >> And when we come up with solutions, make. sure those solutions aren't even worse. for you because one of the solutions was. these damn paper straws. So what makes.

what makes a paper straw able to support. liquid without dissolving? forever chemicals. Paper straws are way worse for you than. plastic straws. Way worse. >> Yeah. >> Especially if you're dealing with hot. liquids, which is another factor when. you're dealing with coffee cups. >> Yeah. >> Like coffee cups. Um my friend Paul. Saladino did this demonstration where he. took a typical paper coffee cup and. dissolved the outside of it and showed.

you what you're actually pouring hot. liquid into. You're pouring hot liquid. into what's essentially looks like a. condom. It's a plastic liner that lines. the inside of these paper cups, which is. why they can hold. >> hot liquid in the first place. >> It doesn't even make any sense. Like, how is paper able to hold hot liquid. without dissolving? Well, it has to have. some sort of a surface inside of it. that's a coating and that coating is. filled with forever chemicals and it is. [ __ ] terrible for you.

>> Yeah. So, our solutions have to be at at. least somewhat better, >> right? >> You know, and then there's people that. say, "Well, metal, the problem with. metal straws is people trip and the. metal straws go into their brain." Okay, you [ __ ] don't trip. Jesus Christ. What are we saying here? >> I haven't followed the metal. >> Yeah. A bunch of people have died cuz. they're looking at their phone. Yeah. They're looking at their phone and. sucking something through a metal straw. and they trip and it goes into their. head and kills them. Oh my god.

>> Yeah, more than one person has died that. way. Like good lord. Like it's if it's. not one thing, it's another. There's no. end. >> Whenever we try to fix something, we. come up with a solution that's actually. worse than the initial problem. Not. always, but. >> it's like a Rube Goldberg thing or. something. >> Yeah. >> I mean, and it just makes you wonder, do. we have to go back to some sort of. really primitive form of existence like. everybody rides donkeys? No. Well, I. think the Well, this is the reason why.

we serve in the studio. We don't use. plastic water bottles anymore and we. serve all of our guests. We use a steel. cup. >> And this is why we have steel cups. because I realized a long time ago that. >> plastic leeches into the water. And you. have no chain of command. You don't no. one knows exactly how that water bottle. was handled. No one knows how long it. was sitting on a dock. No one knows how. what was the temperature of the truck.

that it was delivered to the. supermarket. When you get it, it's cold. Okay. But what happened in the time that. it was bottled in the factory to the. time it got into your hands? Well, if. it's plastic, there's there's a high. likelihood that it's leeching some. chemicals. Now, here's another. disturbing thing that they found. You said, "Well, we should buy glass. water." Yeah, buy a glass water bottle. That solves the problem. Well, actually. it doesn't because of the caps. >> So, the caps. leech more because of the way they make.

these caps on these metal water bottles. Whatever the surface of the interior. lining of those caps, it keeps water. from leaking out leeches even more than. it does with a water bottle that's. plastic. So that what they found is that. glass water bottles leech more chemicals. into the water than plastic, which is just crazy. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, that must be. >> make sure that's true. I'm I'm pretty. sure 99% sure that's true. I read this.

whole article about it, but I want to be. clear because this is this is pretty. important. >> Yeah. I remember, you know, I'm old. enough to remember when they delivered. milk. >> Oh, yeah. you know, in glass bottles. >> to the house and they had these little. paper caps on them. But I now wonder, you know, if those were sort of. >> coated. >> coated with. >> Well, they seem like they're metal. It. seems like a metal coated cap because. there's something about the rigidity of.

it. Here, recent studies indicated glass. bottles may contain significantly higher. level of microplastics than previously. thought, even exceeding those found in. plastic bottles. This is largely due to. microplastics origin originating from. the bottle caps, specifically the paint used on them. While glass is often seen as a safer. alternative to plastic, these findings. highlight a potential concern. regarding microplastic contamination in. beverages regardless of the container.

type. And we've talked about this the. dangers of plastics on this podcast. before because we had uh Dr. Shannon. Swan from Harvard who wrote a book. called Countdown. It's all talking about. how the phalates and these microplastics. entering into women's bodies during the. time where these children are. developing. It's contributing to a bunch. of different factors that are really. dangerous to the endocrine system. Campid suggests that most of the. microplastics in the body are ingested.

through food, particularly meat, because. commercial meat production tends to. concentrate plastics in the food chain. Terrific. >> Yeah, >> there's no escape. What has been the reaction to your book? Has there been any push back on by. people that uh don't like your uh. connecting serial killers to industrial. contaminants? Yeah, I mean there have been people who. say, you know, well, you know, why isn't.

everybody in Tacoma a serial killer and. things like that? Um, which I think is. kind of the wrong focus. I mean, I'm. just trying to introduce a description. of sort of the most extreme. version of what might have happened. Um, and again, I don't make those kinds of. claims. I mean, we can't, for example, show that um Ted Bundy did what he did.

because of lead. All I'm trying to show. is that he was exposed to a significant. amount of lead. And we know that from. the testing of his house and his yard. Um, and so I'm just saying, think about. what that might have done. Think about. what it might have contributed. probably. wasn't the only reason. There was. probably a whole suite of reasons why he. did what he did with all of these guys.

That's true. Um, but Gary Ridgeway, you know, again, he. grows up two miles from SeaTac from the. airport at a time when they were using. lead in. >> jet fuel. >> Jet fuel. >> Oh, wow. And so he's and he's also right. by two major highways. And what does he do when he grows up? He. goes to work at a truck factory painting.

trucks. >> Oh boy. >> With a spray, you know, gun and that. lead that paint has uh lead components. So he's got it coming and going. I mean, he his brother talked about how he used. to they used to play on a um a slag pile. from the copper mine in Idaho. So, I think he's a guy who clearly has.

to have come into contact with more lead. than was good for him. Now, does that. mean that's why he did it? Um, you know, and he's, you know, his whole. history involves so many victims. I. mean, he plead guilty to something like. 48 or 49. murders, but they've tied him to. probably around 78 or 79, and that's. probably an undercount.

So, I think it's worth thinking about. That's what I'm saying. I think it's. worth thinking about what led. contributed. to crime during that period. And I. wanted to tell the story in a way that. was kind of subjective, you know, and. personal and not in an academic way. I. mean, there are some great academic. histories of lead uh exposure and the.

and the history of lead industries in. this country. I didn't want to do that. because. it's been done and because you know I. think people when they're reading. something for I wouldn't say. entertainment but you know they want to. be they want to find something. compelling and absorbing and learn. something and this I felt was a way of. you know in Murderland of presenting. this material in a way that people could.

kind of say oh you know I didn't know. about the what happened with lead during. World War II. I didn't know about what. it could do to kids um and and how that. might show up years later in their. lives. >> When you finish a book like this and. then you release it, what does that feel. like? like you you're you're. contributing I think greatly to this. discussion that's a very important one.

of the impact of these industrial. pollutants what what these unknowing. victims of this not just the serial. killers but all the people that were. probably damaged by this stuff. What. what does it feel like when when you. release a book like this? Um, it's kind of overwhelming, you know, to see it suddenly kind of be in. people's hands and they're reading it. and they're asking you questions like,

you know, and um, yeah, I mean, the. funny thing about writing a book is is. that while you're writing it and doing. the research, it's kind of your own. private Idaho, you know, it's your own. private little play pen where you get to. make all the decisions and, you make all. the choices and um and then you know. editors get involved and all these other. you know people at the publishing house.

and they start saying well what about. this what about that and that's always. sort of terrifying because you realize. oh I haven't thought about all the you. know ramifications I I need to you know. do all this factchecking and make sure. everything's right and you know so. that's a a real you know hump to get. over to to just make sure that you know. you've gotten everything nailed down as. much as you can. Um. and and that's all great. Uh but then it.

enters people's hands and they're. reading it and sometimes, you know, when. you publish a book, people have really. different responses than you even. imagined. You know, I mean, you can't. control it anymore. It's just out in the. world doing its thing. And um it's. interesting. It's always sort of really. interesting to you know I just heard. from a woman who's the daughter of a of. a guy who worked at the smelter in.

Tacoma. Um and I had been in touch with. her you know briefly. um because her father was an incredible. uh rabble rouser when he worked at the. smelter. He he was um working for the. union and did all this stuff to bring. the whole arsenic thing uh to light to, you know, show that the um plant doctor. who he called the plant quack, you know,

was lying about the stuff. and and you. know he was sort of a hero in this whole. story because he published you know he. had this little newsletter that he. published from his kitchen table. Um, and he he was so funny, so great, and he. really, you know, cared about the guys. that he worked with. And so he, I think, helped compile a whole list, which was.

called the death list. Um, I found it. There's a copy of it in the Tacoma. Library, a sarco records, um, that. listed all the guys who worked at the. smelter who died of various cancers. pretty young, you know, like at age 55. or something. Um, and so, you know, when. you hear from somebody like, you know, that woman or other people who, you.

know, lived in Tacoma and remember this. whole era, it's really gratifying. I. mean, it's really great to know that. you've put something on the record that. will help people understand the history. of this stuff. >> Yeah. I think you've done the world a. great service. >> I really do. because I think it's. difficult to compile all this stuff and. put it into a digestible form. And I. think the connection that you've made to. serial killers, which I think is a very.

valid connection, but also uh it's. particularly exciting for people to pick. it up and because so many people are. fascinated by serial killers and so many. people are creeped out by it that it it. makes it more compelling. it makes it. more uh interesting for people to to. read and that I think along the way then. they get this deeper understanding of. this gigantic problem.

>> I hope so. Yeah. I I mean that's that's. the goal, you know, to to to try to, you. know, just I mean, I hate to use the. term raise awareness because it's such a. cliche, but you know, you do hope that. that people go come away from reading. something like this and think, "Oh, you. know, maybe maybe I should have my water. tested or maybe I should, you know, be. concerned about the playground where my.

kids are playing. >> Yeah. >> Um. >> Well, I think you did it. So, and I'm. really happy that you came in here to. talk about it. I really appreciate it. >> Well, I I appreciate being here. >> My pleasure. Um Jamie, put the book up. so people can see it. Murderland. Uh did you do the audio version of it? >> I did not, but um. >> had someone else do it. >> Yeah. a a woman.

>> crime and blood lust in the time of. serial killers. I like how you have it. all foggy, too. >> You know, where it makes it look like. >> Yeah. His head is. >> pollution. >> dissolving. >> Yeah. I mean, his head it's Whoever the. artist is did a great job of like. connecting kind of what we're talking. about. >> Yeah, they did a great job on the cover. >> Well, thank you Caroline. Thanks for. coming in. Really appreciate it. It was. really good to talk to you. >> Great to be here. >> All right. Bye, everybody.

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