Childhood lead exposure damaged Americans' mental health
Childhood lead exposure damaged Americans' mental health
A new study links 151 million instances of psychiatric illness to leaded gasoline.
Summary
Childhood lead exposure from leaded gasoline caused 151 million additional psychiatric illnesses in the U.S. between 1940 and 2015, according to new research.
Peak exposure occurred for Generation X (1966–1986 births) due to widespread use of leaded gasoline before its 1996 ban.
The study links lead exposure to higher rates of depression, anxiety, ADHD, and altered personality traits, including increased neuroticism and reduced conscientiousness.
Lead pollution also caused a collective loss of 824 million IQ points in Americans.
Yes, we noticed. Latest election being one of examples.
As a gen xer I still think this is likely a lowball estimate. But it's still good to see the numbers. And still depressing to have to point out all the lead pipes still in use. Granted if they're well maintained they're "safe". But seeing "maintenance" in a major population centers in a red state lacking. Knowing the rural areas are far far worse. Well, there's going to be plenty lead addled millennials and zoomers too. And less will to fix it. 🤐
My God. We really are speed running "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" aren't we? I always thought of it more in the sense of political and social decay. But we even have the god-damned lead pipes!
Biden approved an absolute shit ton of money to replace lead service lines across the country.
Can't wait for Trump to claw that back.
“We’ve decided to replace the flouride in your water with lead”
I've said it before but I'll say it again (along with many in this thread I'm sure): a large part of our fucked up political culture comes from lead poisoning. But not in a simple single-vector way.
In addition to the obvious neurotoxin effect that lead has and the way it amplifies mental health issues, there's another vector: the effect that the behavior of lead-poisoned individuals have on the people around them. Especially in the era of social media. And this ripples through society and creates a crescendo of sociological damage.
I 100% agree with you. I've worked some jobs for companies with access to large swaths of data and one of the...say...more interesting patterns I saw was lead exposure areas of the US and how that area did when it came to education, voting, welfare program use, and other statistics.
The difference is significant and noticeable by anyone with eyes.
It probably helps if you don’t have lead plated neurons too.
But yeah, just looked it up and I’m kinda surprised. It’s the Midwest and Florida. Like it tracks, but I’m surprised we beat Mississippi in childhood blood lead content
Wouldn't be surprised if the incoming administration saw this and added "bring back leaded gasoline" to their anti-woke agenda so they can more easily manipulate future generations.
Well they're gona stop the chemtrails apparently so why not throw some lead back into the topsoil instead
Hol' up, 1986 is Gen-X now? I thought I was a Millennial. This shit changes all the time.
I'm the same age - you Gen Xers can't steal me... I had to endure decades of shitty avocado toast references and can't afford a decent fucking home. I'm millennial to my core!
With millenials often there's a split made between the early millenials and later millenials. People born before 1990 will have gone through a lot of early life and education without the internet. Where people born in 1990 and later will have had internet for most their childhood and education. This means the early millenials are a lot like gen-X and the later are much more distinct.
That part saddens me a bit. I'm part of the last generation of people that will ever know what the world was like before the net, without reading about it in a history book. It's like being the person who was born before Tesla and Edison did their thing, and by the time they were an adult, the cities were lit up like giant inverted chandeliers with strange new loud self-powered vehicles starting to fill the streets.
It's all very arbitrary and stupid.
Generally it's considered about 1965 to 1980. But nothing is exact like that. Culturally my millennial sibling only 5 years younger had a very similar childhood and the exact same parents. Ultimately generations are societal constructs just like race. And don't really mean all that much.
Eh, seems like it's a little fuzzy depending on whom you ask. I'd still call you a Millennial and that jives with the Generation X Wikipedia page:
"Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the late 1970s as its ending birth years, with the generation being generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980."
You’re a millennial. A definition I heard was that you were born before 2000, but not an adult. So… you could argue 1980-82
ChatGPT says: The most commonly accepted year range for millennials is 1981 to 1996. However, definitions can vary slightly depending on the source, with some extending the range by a year or two in either direction.
I trust that more than I trust some random writer.
XennialLyfe homey
Aviation fuel still contains lead. Not jet fuel but the avgas small private planes use. Pisses me off
Yeah ive gotta fill my plane at work every day with that poison and and then when I test the fuel it gets all over my hand and my skin turns white once it dries (so I wash my hand) but YUCK. Most of the engines can totally run on mogas anyway they just don't want to because a small percentage cannot and there's only one fuel bowser.
….Do you not have access to gloves?
So the "chemtrails" crowd was not far off then? They just got angry about the wrong type of planes and the wrong type of poison
That's a small amount of old airplanes. It's not like there are 250 million 1947 Piper Cubs flying a 100,000+ Km a year.
looks at Facebook
Yeeeeeep. Fucking looney toons ovah heah.
I'm sure I've met someone who's lost 824 million IQ points.
Called it
Nostradamus over here!
I mean..yeah. One in my has to look remotely in americas direction to see that. Especially now.