Lead exposure has been linked to almost every kind of developmental and behavioral problem, including school dropout rates and criminality. A recent study looked at six U.S. cities that could provide good crime data and blood-lead-level data going back to the 1950s. Going neighborhood by neighborhood in New Orleans, it found that a rise in blood-lead levels matched a rise in incidence of violent crime. Econometrics studies looking at worldwide crime trends also show an astonishing correlation between a “lead curve” and a “crime curve.” Where consumption of leaded gasoline declines, so does
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