Ethics

Lead Exposure and Violent Crime

By Adam Kolber

A new study is out about the relationship between high prenatal and postnatal blood lead concentrations and criminal arrests.  Here is the article in PLoS Medicine and here is an LA Times summary.  Here's a sample from the Editors' Summary on PLoS:

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

Between 1979 and 1984, the researchers recruited pregnant women living in poor areas of Cincinnati, which had a high concentration of older, lead-contaminated housing, into the Cincinnati Lead Study. They measured the women's blood lead concentrations during pregnancy as an indication of their offspring's prenatal lead exposure and the children's blood lead levels regularly until they were six and half years old. They then obtained information from the local criminal justice records on how many times each of the 250 offspring had been arrested between becoming 18 years old and the end of October 2005. The researchers found that increased blood lead levels before birth and during early childhood were associated with higher rates of arrest for any reason and for violent crimes. For example, for every 5 ?g/dl increase in blood lead levels at six years of age, the risk of being arrested for a violent crime as a young adult increased by almost 50% (the ?relative risk? was 1.48).

(Hat tip: Patrick S. O'Donnell).

Full post as published by Neuroethics and Law on June 03, 2008 (boomark / email).