This article showing the research into lead and crime I thought is interesting
https://www.verywellhealth.com/lead-crime-hypothesis-4147074
Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
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Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is VERY expensive problem to fix. Cleaning environment, replacing old pipes... Other issues like smoking can be milked on taxes. EU went quite far, even banning lead from solder.
One cost-effective program is to ban the sale of lead paint in those countries without regulation (over half of countries globally). This article looks into this and other solutions: https://rethinkpriorities.org/publications/global-lead-expos... . Disclaimer: I co-direct a nonprofit that advocates for lead paint regulation (LEEP: https://leadelimination.org/ ).
Is indoor lead paint is still being sold anywhere in the world? Not banned doesn’t necessarily mean it is actively used.
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#23I knew about lead poisoning for a while, but mostly in US context. It's almost a non-topic in Europe since leaded gasoline was banned (I'm actually wondering why: no leaded paints in EU?) If these numbers are true, why this is not on first pages of all media all the time? Crazy. I wonder how reliable are these numbers.
> It's almost a non-topic in Europe since leaded gasoline was banned (I'm actually wondering why: no leaded paints in EU?)
Leaded paints were certainly widely used as rustproofing primer on steel constructions, as a bedding compound, and as anti-fouling paint on boats. The traditional formula is a mixture of lead oxide and linseed oil, giving it a characteristic red color.
Most of these uses are AFAIU nowadays banned, and replacements are available for practically(?) all lead paint usecases. I think it's still possible to buy it for some special usecases, though (like buildings/boats built/maintained with "traditional" methods).
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#24I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago.
There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests.
One teacher decided to look deeper to see if there could be some other factor that could explain the difference. What that teacher found was that in this district all of the white kids lived in suburban single family homes that had been recently built, and all of the Black kids lives in decades old apartment buildings.
In particular, the white kids' homes at all been built after we stopped using lead point, and the Black kids' homes were all built before that.
The kids were tested for lead exposure, and it turned out all the Black kids and none of the white kids had high lead levels. That lead to (no pun intended) cleaning up the environments in the old apartments and treating the Black kids for their high lead levels.
This was caught early enough for these kids to prevent permanent damage, and when tested a few years later the IQ gap had largely disappeared, and the Black kids were doing as well as the white kids in school which they had not been before being treated for their lead exposure.
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#25If anyone (like me) is looking for a map (which seems to be missing from the article), the per-country data is apparently on https://www.pollution.org .
Our World in Data have a map here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-lead-5micrograms...
This map is very bad since
1. Most countries have "no data"
2. Those that do show an absolute number instead of a percentage, which makes the data essentially useless.
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#26I knew about lead poisoning for a while, but mostly in US context. It's almost a non-topic in Europe since leaded gasoline was banned (I'm actually wondering why: no leaded paints in EU?) If these numbers are true, why this is not on first pages of all media all the time? Crazy. I wonder how reliable are these numbers.
There are plenty of properties in the UK still fed by lead water pipes. It's not something people talk about often, but it can be a problem and should be part of a good property survey.
Our Victorian property still has a (shared) lead supply pipe. I've been repeatedly told it's not an issue due to (presumed) calcification on the inside of the pipe. All the interior pipework is copper.
Our water was tested years ago by the waterboard and came back way below the legal limit.
Yet still... I'm suspicious. Can anyone point me at resources to help prove it's unsafe?
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#27I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…
Simpson’s Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#28Does someone know how to test if a building is contaminated? I live in the EU and this a non-issue, but I'm afraid if/when I have to move back to my home country.
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#29Does someone know how to test if a building is contaminated? I live in the EU and this a non-issue, but I'm afraid if/when I have to move back to my home country.
Check with your local municipality. In the US most places have free testing via a local government lab. The only way to know for sure is testing the water. It’s also not just lead pipes that are the issue (although that’s the biggest problem)… lead is also found in older soldier and plumbing fixtures.
Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning
#30I remain shocked how we in the United States knowingly poisoned generations with leaded gasoline. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/leaded-gas-poison-... In searching for a substance that made gasoline less flammable (and hence stopped it from igniting outside of a cylinder, i.e. "knocking") we tried everything including adding melted butter! Lead along with a lot of other things worked well but we went with…
Lead also helps with valve seats lasting longer. Automakers switched to hardened valve seats in the 70's when lead was taken out of gas.