Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe the tougher sentences worked? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#/...
Then why did Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan see the same drops in crime? They all lock up a minuscule fraction of their populations by comparison and had larger or similar drops in crime. The timing is also wrong, the drop in crime started before incarceration ramped up. Also as I mentioned the plurality of incarceration is for nonviolent crime, a lot of which is simple drug possession.
Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
391–400 of 508 posts
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
> because lead lobbyists continued to disrupt regulation efforts. I have genuine, actual trouble maintaining faith in humanity when I hear about people like this existing. It just makes me incredibly depressed and bummed out about life.
edit: My analysis is clearly unwelcome here.
People doing what's best for them can be very evil for others, like the fact that buildings full of lead paint and lead-leaking pipes have not been fixed.
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was banned in the US in 1978.
So this is all historical and not being removed because of the cost?
It isn't uncommon at all to simply apply new coats of paint over existing ones, rather than sanding and scraping off the old paint.
As long as kids don't eat your walls, it is safer too- the risks from a few chips are much lower than fine powdered dust that lingers around a long time and is even harder to completely remove.
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#394I was recently horrified to learn that the baby glass bottle I had been using with my baby had lead paint on it. https://tamararubin.com/2021/12/sailor-themed-glass-nuk-baby... Apparently, it's considered to be acceptable by current standards. Despite the fact that babies will obviously touch the bottle (and the paint) and then put their hands in their mouth. I bought glass bottles because I wanted to avoid plastic t…
There's also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_dioxide#Possible_carc... , which is used in many glazes and coatings, but also as a whitener in health supplements and toothpaste!
Titanium dioxide is also widely used in cosmetics because it blocks ultraviolet light. Together with zinc oxide, it's the basis of sunscreen.
As a pigment, titanium dioxide also seems like it's currently the go-to less toxic replacement for the lead-based pigments in lead paint.
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
IQ reduction is totally expected from the moment contraceptive methods became fully available. Common sense seems to be out of fashion these days, but Idiocracy was spot on: the dumber you are the more prone to "unexpected" pregnancies you'll be. The future will not be Star Trek.
you never know. We might be able to hit a critical mass with Authoritarian regimes regulating reproduction, and through gene editing. Perhaps when we finally translate "unintelligent people" into "vermin" we'll do what many previous iterations of society have done... genocide. Part of this is literally possible. A big part of made stark to point out that we should be careful in the way our language dehumanizes people…
Many things are true simultaneously. Genocide is a moral abomination, and we should be vigilant in guarding against it and its precursors. And folks with below average intelligence are just as human as everyone else, deserving of the same respect and the same rights. And there are many contemporary factors that would seem to make high IQ people less likely to procreate low IQ people--including the high cost (including trade-off costs) of children and the ready availability of contraceptives. And long term downward pressure on IQ would be a disaster for our civilization and a danger to our species.
We can't let the ghosts of eugenicists past scare us away from asking important questions. Avoiding the awful mistakes of the past will require care and diligence, and can be (must be!) done without embracing the easy path of reactionary "moral" ignorance.
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
> because lead lobbyists continued to disrupt regulation efforts. I have genuine, actual trouble maintaining faith in humanity when I hear about people like this existing. It just makes me incredibly depressed and bummed out about life.
edit: My analysis is clearly unwelcome here.
Gasoline is not big business? They had a "scientist" on staff, that proclaimed that leaded fuel was harmless. Who cares about paint, when there are millions of cars driving around blowing lead dust into the air? The (real) scientist who saw a connection needed years to prove it. By digging into the ice in the arctis he was able to prove, that the high lead levels where a recent phenomenon. The documentary Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey by Neil deGrasse Tyson [0] tells this story much better than i ever could and much more... Highly recommended!
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then why did Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan see the same drops in crime? They all lock up a minuscule fraction of their populations by comparison and had larger or similar drops in crime. The timing is also wrong, the drop in crime started before incarceration ramped up. Also as I mentioned the plurality of incarceration is for nonviolent crime, a lot of which is simple drug possession.
They didn't: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homicide_Rate_in_N... https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/14/national/crime-...
The Norway peak in 2011 is entirely from the Utøya mass homicide.
Japan follows a similar curve despite starting and peaking later, 70% of those crimes for the whole period are nonviolent petty thefts. My mistake in including Japan doesn’t support either point your tried to make. Neither place has mass incarceration.
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> The societal risks are the same and additional worse ones with alcohol I don't think this is correct, personally. (I'm pretty sure you'll find studies arguing for both sides, so we can only go on personal wisdom.)
[deleted]
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was going to post something v similar about psilocybin. The war on drugs has had such awful consequences and repercussions and costs, it boggles the mind.
To suggest that there is no potential for psychological harm from psychedelics is naive. I've personally suffered long-lasting psychological harm from a bad mushroom trip and I have at least a couple of friends/acquaintances who have, as well. You can quibble over the details of why and how adverse effects happen but it doesn't change the fact that they do.
Your comment was sort of aimed at both me and the GP, but FWIW I'm not saying nothing bad ever happened to anybody on hallucinogenics. My main point is that the war on drugs has stymied our ability properly to study and understand these substances which incontrovertibly have some real benefits.
Re: Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study
#400One of the most heartbreaking things I ever learned about was the high levels of lead in Mexican candy. This is apparently mostly due to the inks used in the packaging. https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.2754/ The following paper also pegs pottery as an issue. Just devastating. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221499961... > Our results indicate that more than 15% of the populati…
Ah crud...in years past I have bought large bags of Mexican candy from Amazon...and subsequently eaten all of it. :(
Does anyone know if there is a test that can tell "historical" levels of lead? It sticks around in the blood right? So if I get a regular lead test will it account for any historical consumption?
Has there also been any research into devising a test to determine if IQ has fallen due to lead poisoning? I guess I don't see a way for this data to be collected after the fact?