Lead is a naturally-occurring heavy metal with many industrial uses. It's also highly toxic to humans--children in particular. It's been known as far back as the Roman Empire that lead is poisonous to humans, causing irreversible brain damage among other serious health problems when ingested, inhaled or otherwise introduced into the body. Specific neurological & cognitive deficits caused by lead exposure include dose-dependent IQ reduction, increased impulsivity, hyperactivity, aggression & a tendency toward violence/antisocial behavior. These effects are considered irreversible.
Lead does its damage by degrading myelin--the insulating sheaths around neurons--and inhibiting white matter growth. This prevents the brain's hemispheres from communicating effectively, a sign commonly observed in murderers & sociopaths (Raine et. al, 1997). The result is a slower, less coordinated brain. Other studies have linked lead exposure to permanent loss of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex--a part of the brain linked with inhibition of aggression.
So why has lead been so widely used in our everyday products for so long, and what are the implications of that use on human behavior & society?
A Brief History of Lead in Society
Tetraethyllead (TEL), the form used in gasoline to reduce engine knock beginning in the 1920's, was so toxic it would instantly cause poisoning if absorbed through the skin. This was discovered in 1924 when 15 Ohio & New Jersey factory workers experienced the horrific effects of lead poisoning via skin absorption, eventually dying as a result. But true to corporate form, the General Motors CEOs & others who championed leaded gas fought to keep this info suppressed for decades, with the truth only emerging in the 1960s and '70s. While several generations were exposed to dangerous levels of lead via gasoline emissions, the Baby Boomers (born from 1946-1964) and early Generation X (1965-1980) got the worst of it due to increased vehicle ownership during this period.
In addition to leaded gasoline which was the main source of exposure, lead-containing paint was the 2nd most prevalent source and remains so to this day. Houses built before 1978 are more likely to contain lead paint, with both the risk & lead content going up the longer ago the house was built. This diagram gives a good idea of risk:
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| Courtesy EPA.gov |
Systematic Poisoning
Even when you control for factors like income, age & location, Black & brown people are far more likely to have higher blood lead levels than white people. There are several reasons for this, the first being that many of these families live(d) in inner cities where vehicles constantly spewed out toxic gasoline exhaust before smog regulations existed, and this lead persists in the soil today. The second is the likelihood of living in dilapidated government housing built before 1960 which is more likely to contain flaking lead-based paint due to lack of renovations over the years. This housing often remains risky even today.
Kids who are malnourished early in life (which is a standalone risk factor for permanently lowered IQ) and have pica--a condition that causes cravings for non-food items like dirt, ice or paint--have a tendency to eat the peeling paint chips or suck it off their toys because lead tastes sweet. Another risk factor is a lack of access to healthcare among Black people--when they do get it, it tends to be of lower quality than white people. Children on Medicaid or other government-funded healthcare plans are even less likely to be routinely screened for lead toxicity.
But lead paint doesn't need to be ingested to be dangerous: it can also be inhaled as a fine dust which toddlers encounter often due to their proximity the ground. Maternal smoking or vaping during pregnancy is another route to lead exposure, as is living or working in certain professions like lead smelting. Minorities frequently live closer to toxic industrial sites like landfills, incinerators, abandoned mines & high-traffic areas that contain lead-contaminated soil or water. The ongoing tragedy in Flint, MI, is proof of the higher risk that's inherent with simply being a person of color in the United States--Flint's population is comprised of 54.05% African Americans with whites making up only 38.45%.
Lead or Something Else?
Here are the cold, hard numbers. Preschool blood lead levels of 10 micrograms (mcg) per decileter (dl) are associated with 7.4 IQ points lost. Levels of 40 mcg/dl equals an average of an IQ loss of 15 points, with 60 mcg/dl lowering IQ by nearly 20 points. This can be enough to cause borderline mental retardation in even the brightest child with no other risk factors (poor nutrition, neglect, head trauma).
In the late '70s, the average blood lead level for Black kids under age 3 was 50% higher than average white kids. Black children were six times more likely to have levels of 30-39 mcg/dl and EIGHT times more likely to exceed 40 mcg/dl. This is criminal.
Indeed, being poor is stressful. Not knowing where your next meal is coming from--wearing hand-me-downs while your peers wear the latest name brands--takes its toll. All of that contributes to desperate acts like drug dealing & theft, but it doesn't turn a normal person into a cold-blooded killer or rapist who commits violent acts just for kicks. And there IS a difference. People who commit crimes like shoplifting or drug dealing to get their basic needs met are not the same as sociopaths & psychopaths. Poverty does not explain the levels of violence we saw from the 1960's through the early 1990's in America's inner cities between the Bloods & Crips, nor with our nation's (mostly white) serial killer epidemic & assassinations of public figures like JFK, RFK, John Lennon, Harvey Milk, Malcolm X, MLK, Ronald Reagan (attempted), George Wallace (attempted).
Indeed, poverty hasn't gone anywhere. In fact income inequality has gotten much worse. Wages have stagnated while cost of living & productivity have skyrocketed. Gentrification has pushed long-term residents out of their neighborhoods from New York to San Francisco as corporations like Black Rock buy up homes & apartment complexes across the country. Yet gang violence, serial killings, domestic terrorism & other forms of violent crime have dropped precipitously since the mid-'90s when Hillary Clinton made her infamously crude remarks about "Superpredators".
Drug addiction & overdose deaths have risen to historic highs since 2015, yet violent crime has remained stable. While the crack epidemic was a plague, we now have more drugs flooding our cities, towns & suburbs than at any time in this nation's history. Stimulants that make crack look mild by comparison like flakka, bath salts & ultra-pure methamphetamine are ubiquitous. Downers & opioids of deadly potency are easy to get. That's to say nothing of the wide variety of dissociatives (ketamine, PCP, nitrous) & hallucinogens (DMT vape pens, ayahuasca, salvia) and a smorgasbord of cannabis products. You simply couldn't get that variety of drugs in the ultra-violent '80s when crack was king, and certainly not with a simple text or message to an Instagram dealer. Drugs are everywhere yet violent crime has decreased since the 1980s crack era.
Oh, and another thing: The U.S. incarcerates more of its population than any country on Earth. That number has increased dramatically since the 1970's. More Blacks are in the criminal justice system now than there were slaves at the height of slavery in 1850. So this disproves the "fatherless homes" theory. While it's undoubtedly detrimental to grow up without a mother or father, in no way does it guarantee that a child will become violent as an adult. Families come in all shapes & configurations, with grandparents, uncles, step-fathers & other positive role models filling the role of biological father in many instances.
So to wrap this up: blaming poverty, drug dealing/abuse or absentee parents for violence is not correct. Nor is claiming that increased incarceration has improved the situation of violence on our streets. Because this isn't just an American phenomenon.
Leaded Gasoline Around the World
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| Iraqi gas station, where leaded gas was phased out in 2021 |
Leaded gas was phased out in 1973 in the United States & officially removed from gas stations on January 1, 1996. Other countries followed their own schedule. Violent crime in the U.S. peaked in the early '90s & has been steadily decreasing ever since--that 20-year lag means kids born after 1973 were less prone to violence once they reached the "peak" violence ages of 18-25 than those born before. This decrease in violent crime happened not only in the U.S. but worldwide. Every country phased leaded gas out in different years and their crime rates peaked/fell in the same exact pattern as ours (i.e - with the same 20-year lag following the ban).
I know it's hard to believe we live in a less violent world now with the constant reports of mass shootings at schools, grocery stores & other public places, but it's true. The reason we feel like crime is worse is due to the internet & 24-hour news channels like FOX, CNN & MSNBC which didn't exist for most of the 20th Century. Back then, the news came on TV at 12:00 p.m., 6 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. and consisted mostly of local stories. And before that, newspapers were the main news source and they only came out once a day.
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| U.S. violent crime stats by age/year |
To give an idea of how crazy it was during peak violence years, in a single 18 month period between 1971 and 1972, there were 2,500 bombings on American soil, most of them committed by American citizens. This averages roughly 5 per day. Airplane hijackings were commonplace in the '70s & '80s, as were prison breaks & other things we mostly only see in Netflix dramas now. Violent crime including murder, rape, robbery & aggravated assault have all decreased dramatically since the mid-to-late 1990s across not only the country but the world (with the exception of a few countries). But we'll get to that in a minute. If you have any doubt about what a mad, mad world it was in those days, check out the cult classic documentary 'The Killing of America' (1981).
The very last places on Earth to ban leaded gasoline in 2021 were North Korea, Myanmar, Iraq & Afghanistan. Think for a moment about what these countries are known for. North Korea is notoriously closed off from the outside world due to their isolationist policies. Censorship there is among the strictest in the world--all media outlets are owned & controlled by the NK government. Cell phones were completely banned from 2004-2008, and the country currently ranks as the world's worst internet black hole. Short-wave radio possession is against the law in North Korea. Upwards of 70% of media reports are dedicated solely to the idolization of Kim Jong-un. Myanmar is a hotbed of human trafficking (men for labor; women & children for sex); Iraq & Afghanistan are globally known for terrorism and their brutal figureheads Saddam Hussein & Osama Bin Laden. A majority of Afghanis and their Taliban leaders have chosen to remain in the Stone Age rather than adopt modern technology & globalism or "Western" democratic standards. For centuries. If predictions about leaded gasoline's effects are correct, terrorism in these nations will be cut in half by 2040.
Environmental Racism
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| Race, not income, is the #1 predictor of living near toxic environments |
When white nationalists & racists--even faux-scientists like the authors of "The Bell Curve" who claimed that certain races are genetically inferior when it comes to intelligence--look down on Black & brown people, citing things like violence, poor grammar or other "signs" of inferiority, how much of that is actually caused by racism itself? In other words, are discriminatory housing policies, the dumping of leaded gasoline & outsourcing of industrial pollutants to poorer nations causing minorities to become the very thing these racists hate? Make no mistake: racists will hate regardless of any "reason," but it's absolutely criminal to commit soft genocide by poisoning entire demographics of people & then blame them for the shortcomings that YOU caused or endorsed with your votes.
Case in point: Korryn Gaines & Freddie Gray.
Here are two documented lead poisoning victims who died violently in police custody & exhibited aberrant behavior in the hours leading up to their murders. Both were part of a lawsuit against Baltimore alleging that 2,000 homes were contaminated with peeling, flaking lead-based paint poisoning at least 65,000 children. And after being murdered by cops, online commenters blamed them for their deaths, claiming they brought it on themselves. While there may be a grain of truth in this at some level, the bigger picture is that America's police brutality and ecological racism are an intersectional issue that desperately needs addressing.
The Briley Brothers--a trio of serial rapist, serial killing brothers who escaped from death row in 1984--are perfect candidates for the lead poisoning hypothesis. Raised in a middle class neighborhood in a 2-parent home in Virginia, the brothers showed signs of sadism & extreme sociopathy from an early age but with no obvious cause. One of them had shot and killed an elderly neighbor at age 16 which was the first real sign of trouble. Their killing spree was so gruesome I won't go into details, but it involved the brutal beating/rape/murder of men, women & children of various ages ranging from 5 to 76. They murdered for fun, not for the purpose of robbing people or getting revenge. When faced with the ultimate punishment they showed no fear, telling their mother "don't worry mom, it doesn't happen right away" immediately after receiving a death penalty sentence.
The likelihood of 3 brothers in one family turning out this evil by chance--especially with normal-appearing parents--is extremely low. Yet in this documentary they're labeled "Born To Kill" & referred to as a "gang". Sorry psychologists, but gangs don't kill for the enjoyment of killing. They kill for revenge, over drug turf or because a rival is wearing the wrong colors (which goes back to the first two items in this list--drug turf or revenge). Over time, gang members become desensitized to killing which makes it easier, but it's never "fun," and the first time is generally very traumatizing. These sick fucks were killing for sheer enjoyment. Just because they're Black doesn't make them "a gang". These brothers were the equivalent of 3 Ted Bundys in one family, and figuring out what went wrong is vital to the field of forensic psychology & crime prevention.
It's extremely hard bordering on impossible to find the names of actual criminals who tested positive for lead poisoning after committing violent crimes, so unfortunately we're left to speculate. But if you go back in time & watch videos from the 1970s, 1980s & early 1990s you'll see a difference in the speech & general behavior of target populations (i.e. low income inner city Black & brown people, serial killers or prison inmates incarcerated for violent crimes).
The good news is it's gotten much better; the bad news is it's an ongoing problem & minorities are still disproportionately affected. Lead is still found in many consumer products including jet fuel, toys & pottery from other countries and ammunition. A complete list can be found here. But there are many other things that can lower a child's IQ and cause behavior changes for life.
Protecting Your Child's Brain Health
Brain health is about cumulative exposures. The effects of lead poisoning can be made much worse by other factors like poor nutrition, other chemical exposures, oxygen deprivation at birth & severe emotional trauma/neglect. That's good news because it means there are things you can do to improve your child's overall outlook for a successful life even in the presence of lead toxicity.
Head trauma is a huge risk factor that's still getting a pass, and much of it is preventable. Putting your kid in Pop Warner football, soccer, ice hockey, lacrosse or other contact sports puts them at risk of concussion and repeated sub-concussive hits that lead to CTE, a progressive and fatal brain disease. But even in the absence of CTE, head injury on playground equipment or bicycles still does damage over time so limiting a child's total lifetime head impacts is very important. Some impacts like car accidents may not be avoidable, so it's vital to avoid them or reduce their severity when you can. If Aaron Hernandez, Chris Benoit & Jovan Belcher didn't convince you, likely CTE sufferers who are still living like OJ Simpson, Suge Knight, War Machine & Mike Tyson definitely should. The personal lives of these mercurial, often violent figures are nothing to aspire to. Hopefully we'll see preventable head trauma viewed the way lead exposure is today within the next 20 years.
The first 3 years of life are the most important in terms of brain development. If you want to give your baby the best chance at optimal neurological & mental health, make sure to get proper prenatal care, avoid all recreational substances (including cigarettes, alcohol & non-prescribed OTC medications) while pregnant & have regular checkups with your OB/GYN. Simply talking to your baby is one of the most effective ways to boost intelligence & vocabulary. The number of words spoken to a child before the age of 3 is directly correlated with IQ, numerical understanding & reasoning so make sure to spend plenty of one-on-one time looking into the child's eyes & communicating with them when you can.
And good nutrition is vital--breastfeeding being the ideal for complete nutrition for the first 6 months of life according to the World Health Organization. If you can't breastfeed, a quality formula will suffice. As your child gets old enough to eat solid food, avoid junk foods like chips, candy, juice & soda as these not only cause tooth decay but offer no nutritional value & contribute to childhood obesity. Aim for a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins like chicken, fish & beans and healthy mono/poly-unsaturated fats.
There are programs to help if you can't afford adequate food or medical care: SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid & others exist for this purpose. But ideally, avoid having children if you can't afford to give them the best life possible. A country that can't even guarantee a steady supply of baby formula isn't a place to bring a baby into the world without having all your bases covered.
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