Crime rate decreased thanks to ban on lead gasoline

The policy of banning leaded gasoline can be an important reason that the rate of offenders in society is significantly reduced in the US, the scientists said.

The higher the rate of lead that motor vehicles release into the air
The higher the proportion of offenders in the population. (Photo: blogspot.com)

Scientists have known for a long time that lead is an element that can cause birth defects, impaired intelligence and hearing. But recently Tulane University toxicologists found a further effect of lead on humans: It could increase the risk of crime, Environmental International.

"The level of lead exposure of children reached a high level in the 60s and 70s. Two decades later, the number of crimes increased dramatically," said Howard W. Mielke, a Tulane University toxicology expert. stated.

As the amount of leaded gasoline decreased gradually in the 1980s, the crime rate in the population also decreased.

Mielke and colleagues investigated the relationship between leaded gasoline use and crime rates in six US cities - Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans and San Diego. They found that the amount of lead that air emissions into gasoline engines decreased by 1%, the proportion of offenders fell by 0.5% in the following 22 years.

If the amount of lead in the air increased by one ton, the crime rate per 100,000 population increased by 1.59.

In 1996, Dr. Herbert Needleman, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States, found that the higher the lead content in children, the higher the risk of carrying out their harmful behaviors to society. . Another survey, which took place in 2002, found that lead levels in the bones of young men and teenagers caught by police for violence were much higher than those of ordinary people.