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America's Real Criminal Element: Lead
2muchcoffeeman writes "The cause of the great increase in violent crime that started in the 1960s and peaked in the 1990s may have been isolated: lead. This leads directly to the reason for the sharp decline in violent crime since then: lead abatement programs and especially the ban of tetraethyl lead as an anti-knock agent in gasoline starting in 1996. There are three reasons why this makes sense. First, the statistics correlate almost perfectly. Second, it holds true worldwide with no exceptions. Every country studied has shown this same strong correlation between leaded gasoline and violent crime rates. Third, the chemistry and neuroscience of lead gives us good reason to believe the connection. Decades of research has shown that lead poisoning causes significant and probably irreversible damage to the brain. Not only does lead degrade cognitive abilities and lower intelligence, it also degrades a person's ability to make decisions by damaging areas of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, impulse control, attention, verbal reasoning, and mental flexibility. Another thing that stands out: if you overlay a map showing areas with higher incidence of violent crime with one showing lead contamination, there's a strikingly high correlation."
I dislike it when people draw a causal link for this type of data. There is a simple correlation that has a ton of possible causes.
It's worth pointing out that lead abatement starts due to a period of public awareness of health issues, which occurs at a specific point of media saturation and wealth in society that things like painted interiors and automobiles are drawing mass-market attention, and issues such as infections, starvation, war, government corruption, etc, are less apparent.
It seems entirely plausible to believe that these two things are co-equal with each some other related or unrelated cause.
Drawing a causal link in this type of complex circumstance is usually and perhaps almost always inappropriate without significantly more evidence.
"Talking of the genocides and the rampant insecurity in most parts of Africa."
Hmm , lets see what Africa and somewhere like the Bronx or south central LA has in common... now what could it be...