In children under age 6, each 1 microgram/deciliter increase in blood lead concentration is correlated with an 0.5 point drop in Stanford-Binet IQ scores. Recent data also shows correlations...
In children under age 6, each 1 microgram/deciliter increase in blood lead concentration is correlated with an 0.5 point drop in Stanford-Binet IQ scores. Recent data also shows correlations between early lead exposure and adult mental illness.
None of this is news - lead's neurotoxicity has been known for literal millennia.
Court cases in the U.S. have taken decades to resolve. For the most part, the environmental impact of lead and other persistent toxic metals has been outsourced to developing nations.
However, the hazards of heavy metal mining, refining, and recycling should be regarded as part of the basic costs of industrial civilization, and managed as if the children of the wealthy are as much at risk as the children of the poor.
In children under age 6, each 1 microgram/deciliter increase in blood lead concentration is correlated with an 0.5 point drop in Stanford-Binet IQ scores. Recent data also shows correlations between early lead exposure and adult mental illness.
None of this is news - lead's neurotoxicity has been known for literal millennia.
It's just that lead is so useful, and such a persistent, ubiquitous poison, that it's uneconomical to clean up properly or eliminate.
Court cases in the U.S. have taken decades to resolve. For the most part, the environmental impact of lead and other persistent toxic metals has been outsourced to developing nations.
However, the hazards of heavy metal mining, refining, and recycling should be regarded as part of the basic costs of industrial civilization, and managed as if the children of the wealthy are as much at risk as the children of the poor.