Lead in Environment Causing Violent Crime - Study

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Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:44:25 -0500

 

 

 

[sSRI-Research] Lead in Environment Causing Violent Crime - Study

 

 

( The same could be said of many heavy metals or chemicals that affect

the brain including many pharmacuetical drugs)

 

 

 

Lead in Environment Causing Violent Crime - Study

 

http://news./news?tmpl=story & cid=594 & u=/nm/20050218/hl_nm/health_lead_d\

c & printer=1

 

Fri Feb 18, 2:08 PM ET

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lead left in paint, water, soil and elsewhere

may not

only be affecting children's intelligence but may cause a significant

proportion of violent crime, a U.S. researcher argued Friday.

 

He said the U.S. government needs to do more to lower lead levels in the

environment and parents need to think more about where their children

may be

getting exposed to lead.

 

" When environmental lead finds its way into the developing brain, it

disturbs neural mechanisms responsible for regulation of impulse. That can

lead to antisocial and criminal behavior, " said Dr. Herbert Needleman, a

professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh

School of Medicine.

 

Needleman's team, using a technique called X-ray fluorescence, found very

low levels of lead in the bones of children.

 

Needleman cited several studies that associate crime with high levels of

lead either in the bodies of those accused or in the environments they

came

from, including one that showed the average bone lead levels of 190

juvenile

delinquents were higher than those of adolescents not charged with crimes.

 

His study suggested that between 18 percent and 38 percent of delinquent

crimes in the Pittsburgh area could be attributed to lead toxicity in the

adolescents.

 

Another one tested 300 delinquents and found those with higher lead levels

reported more aggressive feelings or behavior disorders.

 

" The brain, particularly the frontal lobes, are important in the

regulation

of behavior, " Needleman told a meeting of the American Association for the

Advancement of Science (news - web sites).

 

" Exposure to lead, at doses below those which bring children to medical

attention, is associated with increased aggression, disturbed

attention and

delinquency. A meaningful strategy to reduce crime is to eliminate

lead from

the environment of children. "

 

Taking lead out of most gasoline has contributed to a sharp reduction

in the

level of lead in the blood of Americans over the past 30 years.

 

But lead is still found in paint, some types of fuel for older vehicles,

older water pipes and in the soil.

 

 

 

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