Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study • Hacker News Board

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#61

Post by legitster » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

I have a strong worries that our current generation will have a similar huge reckoning with marijuana.

We are already seeing studies that show regular marijuana use is correlated with permanent decreases in intelligence, memory loss, motivation, and mental health. And anecdotally, this seems very apparent in my peer group. And Americans are using copious amounts of the stuff right now, and younger than ever before.

I'm not against legalization by any means, or free of my own vices. But the risk in 50 years of people saying "we should have known better" seems really high.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#62

Post by tomxor » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

api wrote: post #46

miketery wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for sugar. We know the dangers it poses, we are also seeing how much it increases risk of death due to covid. I don't think we should be surpsied, as much as pushing to regulate this garbage. As an aside, Michelle Obama's campaign when Obama was in office was about improvement children's health. Her focus was going to be on nutrition (lunch food). Shortly thereafter Coke and Pepsi came in with "donations" a…

It's absolutely amazing how much we shovel sugar into our kids even at school, then wonder why they can't pay attention. Sugar is our generation's tobacco for sure.

> Sugar is our generation's tobacco for sure.

This might seem far fetched, but I think it's pretty accurate.

When tobacco was at it's height most people didn't really think it was bad for you - which gradually turned into a denialistic "yeah but it's not that bad" - it took a long time for society to come to terms with just how harmful it is.

The quantity of sugar in every day food has increased dramatically over time, and our attitude to it has been similar to the denialistic phase for tobbaco - "yeah it might hurt my waistline a little bit but it tastes too good" - Making people think if they aren't fat then it's ok, when really the consequences are far worse, sugar is pretty much poison for our bodies, it's bad for every single part of it (melts teeth, causes gum disease which poisons your bloodstream, ages skin, causes inflammation, causes heart disease, causes diabetes, affects the immune system, messes with cognition, makes you more hungry by sharply switching off ketosis, and finally displaces nutritional food making your body even more susceptible to aforementioned ailments).

I wish I understood this better when I was growing up. Thankfully I had a parent who never encouraged sugary food, and put in the effort to cook good meals... but many people don't and are at the mercy of what super markets sell, which is increasingly extremely sugary food.

If there is a single leading harmful substance that is as prevalent as leaded petrol was - i think it's probably sugar (in the west at least).

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#63

Post by alyandon » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

pathartl wrote: post #58

nynx wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sugar is at least a substance that one can choose not to eat. Lead poisoning and pollution aren’t choices.

Sugar isn't really optional these days. It's snuck into so much of our processed food it's sickening.

Indeed. Added sugar and high fructose corn syrup is in everything. I have to go out of my way to find a brand of bread that doesn't have added high fructose corn syrup. It's ridiculous.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#64

Post by discardedrefuse » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

gordian-mind wrote: post #43

ch4s3 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rate of violent crime nearly quadrupled between 1960 and its peak in 1991 in the US. Even with the COIVD bump, rates are comparable to the mid 60s, and aren't tracking the previous climb.

What's the big change that happened in the 60s and started this trend?

According to the article:

Leaded gasoline consumption rose rapidly in the early 1960s and peaked in the 1970s. As a result, Reuben and his colleagues found that essentially everyone born during those two decades are all but guaranteed to have been exposed to pernicious levels of lead from car exhaust.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#65

Post by JPKab » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

softwarebeware wrote: post #10

It makes me angry to think of how wreckless the generations before millenials were. Lead's risks and damages were well-known long before 1996. And they still didn't ban it until then.

It's pretty insane. I was born in 1981, and near as I can tell, I'm likely a bit luckier than most other Americans my age because I grew up in such a sparsely populated, rural area. Still, there's no question that even people living in areas like me were impacted since most of the population drove old trucks, including my family.

It's crazy to think about having a lower IQ than I was capable of having for something that could have been solved a few decades previously.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#66

Post by tlss » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

softwarebeware wrote: post #10

It makes me angry to think of how wreckless the generations before millenials were. Lead's risks and damages were well-known long before 1996. And they still didn't ban it until then.

Recreational marijuana and JUUL is very much a millenial/gen Z hobby, and it is being pushed with a fervor that glosses over serious studies any potential health risks.

IMO weed will be in 50 years where "big tobacco" is right now.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#67

Post by User23 » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:18 PM UTC

softwarebeware wrote: post #10

It makes me angry to think of how wreckless the generations before millenials were. Lead's risks and damages were well-known long before 1996. And they still didn't ban it until then.

So is fluoride’s neurotoxicity[1], especially for developing brains, and we still insist on using it, to just give one example. We’re no less reckless than prior generations and our children will be just as baffled looking back at us as we are now.

Yes I’m aware that idiots are also fixated on fluoridation. That doesn’t make the science wrong though.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6923889/

  Neurotoxicity appeared to be dose-dependent , and tentative benchmark dose calculations suggest that safe exposures are likely to be below currently accepted or recommended fluoride concentrations in drinking water.

That the authors felt the need to pack four weasel words into the sentence saying maybe it’s ok doesn’t indicate that they believe it’s safe.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#68

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:18 PM UTC

weaksauce wrote: post #54

sidewndr46 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lead still isn't banned in the US. You can go buy 100LL and burn it in your plane all day long showering it over the land below. Completely legal.

yeah i live under the flightpath of a lot of flight school traffic and this weighs a bit on my mind. pretty busy flight area too. Who knows the damage really? are there tests you can take?

Yes, you can get a blood test done that measures lead level. I asked my doctor for the test and got it done. Covered by insurance.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#69

Post by watwut » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:18 PM UTC

xhkkffbf wrote: post #49

micromacrofoot wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've read the removal of lead from gasoline is partially a factor in the sudden reduction of crime during the latter half of the 20th century, but it's not enough to explain the entire trend... which seems to be a preponderance of factors.

But then there's been a huge rise in crime. The murder rate in some cities is dramatically higher than just a few years ago. But it's not like the gas suddenly became leaded again. This makes me think that we just can't be too certain about these things.

There was not huge rise in crime in general. There were more murders during lockdowns in US, which is in fact to be expected since people were forced to be with close relatives - and most murders are by close people.

Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study

#70

Post by lotsofpulp » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:18 PM UTC

legitster wrote: post #61

I have a strong worries that our current generation will have a similar huge reckoning with marijuana. We are already seeing studies that show regular marijuana use is correlated with permanent decreases in intelligence, memory loss, motivation, and mental health. And anecdotally, this seems very apparent in my peer group. And Americans are using copious amounts of the stuff right now, and younger than ever before. I…

The societal risks are the same with additional worse effects for non participants with alcohol and they have been known for a long time. If society is OK with those risks, then I cannot see cannabis being an unacceptable risk in 50 years. Can throw in refined sugar too.