Lead (was: Resending: Malaria in the world)

[Deborah Harrell]

> Deborah Harrell <harrellmedleg at yahoo.com> wrote:

<snip> 
> I'm short on time today, but if you like I will see
> what PubMed has on crime/lead exposure, if anything.

Well, not as short as I thought.  

This is the abstract of the 2002 study about bone lead
levels and adjudicated delinquency:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12460653
...This is a case-control study of 194 youths aged
12-18, arrested and adjudicated as delinquent by the
Juvenile Court of Allegheny County, PA and 146
nondelinquent controls from high schools in the city
of Pittsburgh. Bone lead was measured by K-line X-ray
fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy of tibia...Covariates
entered into the model were race, parent education and
occupation, presence of two parental figures in the
home, number of children in the home and neighborhood
crime rate. Separate regression analyses were also
conducted after stratification on race. RESULTS: Cases
had significantly higher mean concentrations of lead
in their bones than controls (11.0+/-32.7 vs.
1.5+/-32.1 ppm). This was true for both Whites and
African Americans...

A 2001 study on lead levels in blood and 'antisocial'
behaviors:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11792521?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlusDrugs1
... A prospective longitudinal birth cohort of 195
urban, inner-city adolescents recruited between 1979
and 1985 was examined. Relationships between prenatal
and postnatal exposure to Pb (serial blood Pb
determinations) and antisocial and delinquent
behaviors (self- and parental reports) were examined.
Prenatal exposure to Pb was significantly associated
with a covariate-adjusted increase in the frequency of
parent-reported delinquent and antisocial behaviors,
while prenatal and postnatal exposure to Pb was
significantly associated with a covariate-adjusted
increase in frequency of self-reported delinquent and
antisocial behaviors, including marijuana use. Use of
marijuana itself by Cincinnati Lead Study (CLS) teens
was strongly associated with all measures of
delinquent and antisocial behavior. This prospective
longitudinal study confirmed earlier clinical
observations and recent retrospective studies that
have linked Pb exposure with antisocial behavior in
children and adolescents... 

Both of these were small (N <200), but I'd say justify
larger studies to elaborate.

Here's one of the 'Freakonomics' guy's take on the
subject:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/did-banning-lead-lower-crime/
[Boils down to 'possibly maybe.']

This summary of two articles has some graphs and
numbers supporting the hypothesis:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-28-lead-crime_N.htm
...a pair of studies by economist Rick Nevin that
suggest the nation's violent-crime rate in the second
half of the 20th century is closely tied to the
widespread consumption of leaded gasoline...

This is more detailed about Nevin's studies:
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/07/get-the-lead-ou.html

Commentary by Peter Schaeffer, the eighth and ninth
down, offers counterarguments that seem pretty sound
to me, except for that about 'presumably lower lead
levels in rural areas'; while rural kids no doubt had
less car exhaust exposure, they very likely had
increased gasoline/diesel fume exposure from refilling
tractors and other farm equipment.  I have no idea if
diesel had lead in it, but I can state absolutely that
you get fuel on you, your clothes, and inhale fumes
while filling farm equipment from portable fuel
containers.  (Very nasty indeed, even being as careful
as I can - watching me refuel would make any farm kid
laugh at the sissy.)  Also, farm kids did/do more
chorework like painting and pesticide/herbicide
application than their city-living counterparts.

Debbi
Use Of Borax Soap Maru   :P


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