Lead industry documents show executives were well aware of the dangers but managed for decades to withstand occasional public alarm about stories of children killed or maimed by their products. Referring to allegations that lead waterpipes had poisoned a Milwaukee tenant, an annual report from the Lead Industries Association in 1959 warned: "Success of a suit like this could well mean the end of lead services not only in Milwaukee, but in Chicago and many another city, amounting to thousands of tons of lead a year."