Dec 10, 2024 07:28 PM
https://theconversation.com/leaded-petro...udy-245418
INTRO: In its various forms, lead has been used in many everyday products for millennia. The Romans even added it to wine as a sweetener. Its most widespread use, however, was its addition to petrol. And it is this use that has been associated with increased mental health disorders, according to a new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Americans, especially those born between 1966 and 1986 (largely so-called generation X), have probably suffered from an additional 151 million mental health disorders that would not have occurred without the use of leaded petrol.
The study finds increases in anxiety and depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and neuroticism, as well as decreases in conscientiousness.
Although the toxicity of lead for humans has been known for almost as long as it has been used, the full extent of its effects and the exposure levels at which they manifest is still being uncovered.
Europeans, get our weekly newsletter with analysis from European scholars
Tetraethyl lead started to be added to petrol in 1921 when three engineers at General Motors discovered that it greatly improved engine performance and reduced “knocking” – uneven burning of the fuel that can damage engine parts.
Concerns about the safety of leaded petrol arose immediately when one of the engineers who made the discovery, as well as several workers producing the additive, fell sick, and some died of mysterious illnesses. Still, the US surgeon general dismissed these concerns, citing a lack of evidence of the effects at the low exposure levels linked with driving... (MORE - details)
INTRO: In its various forms, lead has been used in many everyday products for millennia. The Romans even added it to wine as a sweetener. Its most widespread use, however, was its addition to petrol. And it is this use that has been associated with increased mental health disorders, according to a new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Americans, especially those born between 1966 and 1986 (largely so-called generation X), have probably suffered from an additional 151 million mental health disorders that would not have occurred without the use of leaded petrol.
The study finds increases in anxiety and depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and neuroticism, as well as decreases in conscientiousness.
Although the toxicity of lead for humans has been known for almost as long as it has been used, the full extent of its effects and the exposure levels at which they manifest is still being uncovered.
Europeans, get our weekly newsletter with analysis from European scholars
Tetraethyl lead started to be added to petrol in 1921 when three engineers at General Motors discovered that it greatly improved engine performance and reduced “knocking” – uneven burning of the fuel that can damage engine parts.
Concerns about the safety of leaded petrol arose immediately when one of the engineers who made the discovery, as well as several workers producing the additive, fell sick, and some died of mysterious illnesses. Still, the US surgeon general dismissed these concerns, citing a lack of evidence of the effects at the low exposure levels linked with driving... (MORE - details)