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Lead in gasoline blunted IQ of half the U.S. population, study says
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Havoc 3y agoHow? I would have expected it to affect everyone though to varying degrees
- dboreham 3y agoThis is the actual paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2118631119 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2118631119 and surprisingly the MSM article about it pretty much just repeats the abstract and uses the same headline. I think that the headline refers to the fact that 1/2 the current US population were children before leaded gasoline was phased out.
- jjgreen 3y agoThe chap who put lead in petrol was also an early enthusiast for the CFCs which put a hole in the ionosphere, thank you Mr Midgley Jr.
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoDidn't he also invent dry-cleaning fluid? Flourine-based, powerful stuff.
- fancy_pantser 3y agoMartinizing dry cleaning process was Henry Martin.
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoMaybe I was thinking of Thomas Midgley Jr. Freon and leaded gasoline
- leeoniya 3y agoah yes, the "one-man environmental disaster" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.
- noobermin 3y agoDear god, reading that bio is a horror story. While you can blame Midgley somewhat he was definitely enabled by the oil companies.
- BD103 3y ago> Environmental historian J. R. McNeill stated that he "had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history."
- ironmagma 3y agoOnly made possible by the millions going along with what that one individual did. This guy was like a hacker moving fast and breaking things, had no clue what he was doing. Nobody does when they build things for the first time.
- EmuAGR 3y agoMaybe that quote should've referred to the first photosynthetic organism... (due mostly to reproduction than ability itself).
- aunty_helen 3y agoWhile people will be quick to judge, it’s necessary to remember how much of a boon refrigeration and high octane gasoline was for human progress. Humanity is full of mistakes like DDT and lead makeup. We continue to make these mistakes today, but it’s important to know that we progress with technology. CFCs are no longer necessary and high octane unleaded now can be had at the pump.
- afavour 3y agoIIRC the gas company execs were absolutely aware of the dangers of leaded gasoline and made sure that information never became public. Yes, it allowed a lot of progress. But society should have been able to make an informed decision about whether it was worth it.
- giantg2 3y ago"IIRC the gas company execs were absolutely aware of the dangers of leaded gasoline and made sure that information never became public." Sounds like most disruptors, PI-based, and food companies today - Facebook algorithms, Uber's early safety/compliance/sexism issues, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if certain food related things become a big deal in a couple of decades. Stuff like hormones and meds in animals and xenohormones in packaging. Even things like synthetic food dyes have some evidence of hyper activity in children, to the point the EU is putting warning labels on some things. When the CEOs have their families avoiding their own products, that's a damn big warning that they know. It shouldn't be a surprise.
- ChainOfFools 3y agoThe cycle keeps repeating in part because the people who do this kind of move fast and break (other people's) things crap in the beginning, whose behavior we excuse and paper over in the name of progress later on, are the ones who also accumulate commanding, NSA wealth and influence offstage. They thereby greatly contribute to setting the stage for future behavior like this, through their soft power influence - what sort of people they endorse, promote, and financially sponsor. It should matter who gets rich. People have for too long been naively (or foolishly) swallowing the elite-favored narrative that someone else's money is none of anyone's business; a dynamically imbalanced moral which may have been weakly defensible in a byegone world that was far less tightly integrated, consolidating and wealth-connected than it has become.
- nielsbot 3y agoI found numerous articles about him. I think this was on HN before: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/one-man-two-deadly-substances-20th-century-180963269/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/one-man-two-deadly...
- 0x00_NULL 3y agoWhat is this nonsense? This whole news article doesn’t even link to the study. So ridiculous. That’s gotta break some journalism rule of some sort. It might be this one: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35254913/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35254913/
- defrost 3y agoMarch 7, 2022 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2118631119 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2118631119 Choice Quote: Significance We estimate population-level effects on IQ loss and find that lead is responsible for the loss of 824,097,690 IQ points as of 2015. ( The link given here on HN is to an NBC news article from March 8, 2022, about that PNAS publication. )
- wrycoder 3y ago"The average lead-linked loss in cognitive ability was 2.6 IQ points per person as of 2015."
- jeffbee 3y agoAbout the same cognitive impairment associated with a mild and fully resolved case of COVID-19.
- ruined 3y agofor anyone else looking for that citation i presume jeffbee referring to https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2311330 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2311330
- karashi 3y agoIt’s worth noting the conclusion includes “Longer-term persistence of cognitive deficits and any clinical implications remain uncertain.”
- profsummergig 3y agoVarious categories of gasoline still are allowed to have lead in them. E.g. jet fuel. Possibly because they have a more-powerful lobby lobbying for them.
- totallyabstract 3y agoJet fuel has no lead, it's basically kerosene. Avgas for reciprocating engines (basically only small general aviation planes/helicopters) currently contains lead but is moving to be lead free in the US.
- bglazer 3y agoJet fuel isn't leaded. It’s piston engine general aviation aircraft that use leaded gas.
- profsummergig 3y agoI meant aviation fuel. I made a mistake by using the term "jet fuel". Thanks.
- JonathonW 3y agoJet fuel does not use lead. I'm also pretty sure jet fuel never used lead; it has no reason to (jet engines are not particularly picky about what they burn-- jet fuel is basically kerosene). Aviation gasoline does use lead-- it's used there to prevent predetonation (engine knock), which is bad for a car engine but really bad in something that's supposed to be keeping you in the air. Replacing it is an ongoing effort, but it's taking a while-- largely because of certification requirements, because it's pretty important to make sure that your new gasoline formulation isn't going to, again, make that thing that's keeping you in the air fail. And there are a lot of older GA airplanes out there that would need recertification for a new fuel.
- mistrial9 3y agoexcept there are other formulations that can achieve that result, and "knocking" was not really the primary driver in the first place -- its a con. see "The Secret History of Lead" https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/secret-history-lead/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/secret-history-lea...
- ipnon 3y agoWe should remember stories like this when we consider the future of AI. Midgley could only see the benefits to be gained. He did not have the foresight to see that seemingly inconsequential scientific and industrial decisions can have immeasurable outcomes.
- lucasban 3y agoThis applies to anything new, not just AI. It’s also important to have the appropriate level of caution, without fear mongering, and accept that even our best due diligence can be insufficient at times.
- tdeck 3y agoHe totally could foresee the dangers. He got lead poisoning in 1923 and had to take time off. Dozens of people in the plant where they were manufacturing the stuff got lead poisoning and had neurological symptoms. Several people died. It's not like there weren't massive warning signs that this substance was going to be a problem. This would be like if the AI you were trying to launch had killed 10 of your coworkers and driven 10 more of them insane, and also you decided to name it something deceptive so people didn't know there was AI in it.
- bastawhiz 3y agoI mean, Midgley knew lead was dangerous. He suffered from lead poisoning himself. People in his plants died and came down with serious lead poisoning just a year after he had to step away because of his lead poisoning. He was directly informed about the risks of lead years in advance. Two years after he got lead poisoning, he did a demonstration where he huffed TEL and poured it on his hands and claimed he could do it every day without consequence. Nobody believed him, perhaps because it was no secret that lead exposure was dangerous. The state of New Jersey didn't believe it either and shut down his plant, and he later came down with lead poisoning again and had to take a leave of absence. So to your point, these were the actions of a man who saw people in his factories dying, came down with lead poisoning twice himself, and kept selling the stuff. That's not a lack of foresight, that's just greed. He just didn't care. The benefits he saw were "making a shitload of money".
- yieldcrv 3y agoMaybe there could be some research in repairing or enhancing our minds specifically from neural pathway damage from lead? Is anyone pursuing that
- yieldcrv 3y ago2.6 points on average More for people born earlier decades like 1960s and 1970s I wouldn't be surprised it we find out that microplastics or a different substance continued the trend for 1990s and 2000s babies
- Solvency 3y agoMeanwhile we're still allowing hundreds of thousands of small + personal aircraft to use leaded fuel in 2024. In fact 5 are flying overhead right now. It's great living in SoCal! Everyone's focused on chemtrails and ignoring the fact that leaded gas is jus spewing into the air above us ~12 hours a day, ~300 days a year.
- downrightmike 3y agoEvery home in the area is getting a consistent powder coat of lead.
- porkbeer 3y ago[flagged]
- nonsensikal 3y agoof course you cant spell
- tjpnz 3y agoProbably wrote it on a dentist chair.
- quickslowdown 3y agoNo, it doesn't
- vel0city 3y ago[flagged]
- newsclues 3y agoWhat is the modern unknown danger doing the same thing today?
- sn41 3y agoMy bet would be microplastics.
- karmelapple 3y agoCancer is rising in younger people. [1] The proliferation of plastic seems like a pretty clear correlation, although I'm sure causation won't be easy to prove. From [1]: > ... younger adults to be the only age group with an increase in overall cancer incidence between 1995 and 2020—the rate has risen by 1% to 2% each year during that time period. ... > Colorectal cancer, while still overwhelmingly a disease that affects older people, is now the leading cause of cancer death in men younger than 50 and second in women in that age group. The numbers have been rising steadily in people 55 and younger since the mid-1990s, according to the ACS. 1. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/cancer-in-younger-people-on-the-rise#:~:text=The%20ACS%20report%20showed%20younger,year%20during%20that%20time%20period https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/cancer-in-younger-people-o....
- newsclues 3y agoVery interesting thanks. My suggestion would have been social media.
- GalaxyNova 3y agophtalates
- speedylight 3y agoI think there’s too many to count.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kibwen 3y agoMemes. Recommendation algorithms. iPads as babysitters.
- ClumsyPilot 3y agoI noticed a disturbing patter - when we talk about costs of environmental laws, they are in dollars, but when we talk about damage, we never put a dollar amount on it. What is the total damage to the economy of making such a colossal number of people less smart, for the entire duration of their life? The cost must be colossal, in trillions. Imagine if 1% drop in IQ costs us 1% loss of GDP, in that case m, over the past decades, we have suffered more damage that the entire GDP of USA. Someone should be paying that! And someone in this thread has rightly pointed out, will microplastics be the same?
- renewiltord 3y agohttps://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-12/epa_scghg_2023_report_final.pdf https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-12/epa_scghg... P. 78 We do. Your observation likely reflects a data source selection error on your part.
- downrightmike 3y agoLow literacy rates end up costing Americans up to $2.2 trillion every year. Nationwide, on average, 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2022. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022. 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. 21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022. https://www.crossrivertherapy.com/research/literacy-statistics#:~:text=Nationwide%2C%20on%20average%2C%2079%25,older%20are%20illiterate%20in%202022 https://www.crossrivertherapy.com/research/literacy-statisti...
- mglikesbikes 3y agoIf the US was an organism, what role would an under-educated X% play? You say it’s a “cost” but equal education obviously isn’t a priority in our country and I can’t help but wonder who benefits from such a high percentage of illiteracy (this is semi-rhetorical). I genuinely don’t think we’re tracking the cost appropriately nor implementing solutions with enough urgency; 10-15 years down the road this empire of ours is going to be far out-classed intellectually by countries that actually implement policy for the equitable benefit of everyone. If I’m off base I’d appreciate an education on this topic as it’s quite gross to think about our elite institutions being proponents of eugenics in the past[1] and how that likely spilled over into the world-building we did after WWII (Kissinger etc). Or put another way, how do we map “AI is going to save everyone” rhetoric to how history has actually gone, and what incentive do existing power structures have to change? [1] https://youtu.be/FkKPsLxgpuY?t=1095 https://youtu.be/FkKPsLxgpuY?t=1095
- TriangleEdge 3y agoThere's still lead pipes for drinking water in the USA. [1] [1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/16/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-lead-pipe-and-paint-action-plan/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases...
- cooper_ganglia 3y agoIn 1986, the U.S. defined “lead-free pipes” as having a lead-content of 8% or less. This wasn’t lowered to 0.25% until 2011! https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/use-lead-free-pipes-fittings-fixtures-solder-and-flux-drinking-water https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/use-lead-free-pipes-fittings-fixtur...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Jemm 3y agoAviation still uses leaded gas. They call it low lead but it is just regular leaded AV Gas.
- duskwuff 3y agoNot for much longer! The FAA has approved a replacement for 100LL, and intends to phase out leaded gasoline by 2030. https://www.faa.gov/unleaded https://www.faa.gov/unleaded
- leetrout 3y agoAVGAS 100LL has half the lead content of AVGAS 100.
- renewiltord 3y agoYeah, regulations are written in blood. Chesterton's fence applies.
- samatman 3y agoWhile this is true, commercial aviation is largely jet powered, and jets do not, and have not, used avgas. They use jet fuel, a blend of kerosene and gasoline. Tetraethyl lead is an anti-knock compound, and turbines don't knock. It's good that it's being phased out, but saying "aviation uses leaded gas" leads people to think that commercial aviation uses leaded gas, which hasn't been the case for longer than most of us have been alive. Turboprops are only 8% of planes flown commercially[0] and the category is dominated by small planes, avgas consumption vs. jetfuel is on the order of 2-4%, as a napkin estimate. [0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/573231/aviation-industry-aircraft-fleet-by-type/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/573231/aviation-industry...
- userbinator 3y agoWhenever I see a headline like that, the thought that comes to mind is "and boosted the IQ of the other half?" It's interesting how none of the comments here have brought up the "but IQ doesn't mean anything" talking point yet. I wonder why.
- alex_young 3y agoWhat would the mechanism for boosting IQ be? Seems like they are saying half of the population was more exposed to it.
- sva_ 3y agoProbably because IQ is based on 100=average, so if the average moves down and you stay constant, yours would move up.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoMedian
- meowface 3y agoFor IQ, the average is also the median.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoThat’s the idealized outcome but the shape of actual populations doesn’t yield a perfect normal distribution. But you’re right the 100 IQ centering assumes a perfect normal distribution, so as such it is intended to both be calibrated to the average and the median.
- Jedd 3y agoPossibly parent is assuming that because IQ is a distribution with 100 at the center, any movement results in a shift of that median. Potentially you could interpret this as suggesting a tacit (mathematical) increase elsewhere, but I don't think the math works out like that.
- jgerrish 3y agoCan you hear that?
- coffeecat 3y agoThis topic is one of my biggest pet peeves. The hypothesis that sub-clinical lead exposure _causes_ IQ loss is, in my opinion, much weaker than most people realize. Observational studies (which are more or less all we have) tell us that Pb exposure correlates negatively with IQ, and that the correlation is moderated by a multitude of variables that are subtle and difficult to model. These studies do not tell us in which direction the arrow of causality points - they merely tell us that not all causative pathways are accounted for by the study's model. The idea that causation points from lead to IQ loss has some issues - e.g., that developmentally delayed two-year-olds ingest more dust/dirt, which increases their lead exposure.
- malfist 3y agoI'm sure the scientists considered "correlation does not equal causation" before publishing.
- iraqmtpizza 3y agoI know that the people still trumpeting about the relationship between college degrees and income definitely don't. Ahem, Destiny, ahem, ahem
- coffeecat 3y agoYou'd think that, but...
- coffeecat 3y agoI'll follow this with a more substantive comment. Science is a machine. To get papers published, pass your dissertation, win grants, and get tenure, there's an easy road and a hard road. The easy road is: "in conclusion, we found that lead correlates negatively with IQ, in support of the prevailing view on Pb neurotoxicity at low lead levels." The hard road is: "in conclusion, we found that lead correlates negatively with IQ, but correlation doesn't imply causation and the consensus view has some serious issues." The article that the OP was written about is case in point. One calculation they do in their paper is the sum of all IQ points lost due to Pb exposure, which comes out to some absurdly large number. Sums of IQ points don't mean anything. It's just a sensational marketing gimmick. And it worked! It got them a national mainstream news article. Reporting their findings on lead exposure without the sensational IQ point calculations and commentary probably would not have gotten them a national news article.
- elwebmaster 3y ago[flagged]
- aaron695 3y ago[dead]
- xyst 3y ago[flagged]
- steve_adams_86 3y agoWhy not actively registered democrats or independents? Why is the distinction necessary here?
- jncfhnb 3y agoThey are proposing a causal relationship between IQ and political affiliation.
- jncfhnb 3y agoIt’s probably most visible in urban communities which are left leaning due to density of exhaust
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jerlam 3y agoThis article is from 2022. I'm guessing it's posted now as a response to the Kansas Attorney General's recent Twitter post that questions the benefit of removing lead pipes: "Biden wants to replace lead pipes ... all for benefits that may be entirely speculative." https://twitter.com/badmedicaltakes/status/1766222612248576098?t=MrtJ_ZbL1juHhA2JU1VPnw https://twitter.com/badmedicaltakes/status/17662226122485760...
- nerdponx 3y agoOh, so the Boston Lead Replacement Incentive program is based on benefits that may be entirely speculative? Might I encourage you to sample our finest tap water, from our finest century-old lead pipes? Oh, maybe another day then.
- jncfhnb 3y agoFWIW, while I support the program, most of our pipes, including all the water mains, are fine. The water supply is fine. It’s the private lines to specific buildings that are old and problematic.
- nerdponx 3y agoFortunately that's exactly what the program covers: replacing crusty old supply pipes running from the main to your building.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- philbin 3y agoHalf the population has an IQ less than average - no lead (gasoline or otherwise required); it's part of the math of statistics. As others state, tying lower IQ to TEL is sketchy at best.
- PlunderBunny 3y agoI cycled to and from school (and later University) on an expressway in New Zealand for about 10 years in my pre-teens and teenage years. Apparently the lead levels in the gutters of our main roads were so high that "some countries would consider mining it" (obviously not actually).
- thenickdude 3y agoCody's Lab has a video of refining platinum from roadside dust: (due to catalytic converters) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg
- peter-m80 3y agowell, that explains a lot
- takerjop 3y agoSound like the explaination reason for our current POTUS being rare kind of idiot? Anyway what is the DOI of that research (or anyone got the direct link?). I like to read through than being summarize by nbc.