Dear all,
Rick Nevin has done some phenomenal research into the long-term behavioural
outcomes in society when children are exposed to lead (mainly from leaded
gasoline and lead paint. Please find below his latest research results. What
can any of us do to bring this research to the attention of those people who
can so easily decide to stop the sale of leaded gasoline in the world and
leaded house paint and start helping families to clean up the residue from
historical use of leaded gasoline and paint?
RegardsYours Sincerely
Elizabeth O'Brien, Manager, Global Lead Advice & Support Service (GLASS) run
by The LEAD Group Inc.
PO Box 161 Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia
Ph +61 2 9716 0132 Freecall 1800 626086
www.lead.org.au

----- Original Message -----
From: "Titus, Laura (NCHH)" <ltitus@...>
To: <leadnet@...>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 4:18 AM
Subject: [Leadnet] New Research Shows Early Childhood Exposure to Lead


New Research Shows Early Childhood Exposure to Lead
Can Result in Juvenile and Adult Criminal Behavior

Lead Exposure Explains International Property and Violent Crime Trends and
Differences in USA City Murder Rates

Columbia, MD - Are children exposed to lead at a young age more likely to
commit crimes as juveniles and adults? A new study says yes.

Rick Nevin, an independent economic consultant and National Center for
Healthy
Housing (NCHH) senior advisor, compared trends in childhood lead exposure to
crime rate trends over several decades in nine countries: USA, Britain,
Canada, France, Australia, Finland, Italy, West Germany and New Zealand. In
all countries, he found that the greater the exposure, the higher the crime
rate. Nevin's analysis of USA city murder rates also shows that murder is
especially associated with more severe childhood lead poisoning.

"The research shows a clear link between lead exposure and crime, not just
in
this country but eight others as well. Nevin's work demonstrates the need
for
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finalize rules which will help
prevent childhood exposure to lead during the renovation, painting and
remodeling of older homes," said Rebecca Morley, NCHH Executive Director.

About 38 million U.S. homes still contain lead-based paint, which was banned
for residential use in 1978. Of those, about 4 million are renovated each
year, exposing many children to significant hazards when contractors fail to
follow lead-safe work practices. In the state of Maine, for example, 65
percent of the lead poisoning cases are the result of unsafe renovations of
older homes. The EPA rule that governs these practices has been delayed for
over a decade due, in part, to industry opposition. According to the most
recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
310,000
children in this country suffer from lead poisoning.

"Young children are being unnecessarily exposed to lead and, as a result,
they
later suffer behavioral problems and learning disabilities," said Morley.

Lead contaminates household dust ingested by children as they crawl and
engage
in normal hand-to-mouth activity. Ingested lead travels through the
bloodstream to the developing brain where elevated blood lead causes many
neurological effects that can impair IQ, learning and behavior later in
life,
numerous studies have shown. Use of lead in paint in the U.S. peaked in the
first half of the 20th century before the 1978 ban. Per capita use of lead
in
gasoline surged in the USA after World War II and rose at a slower rate in
nations with lower per capita gasoline use. A phased-in ban of lead in
gasoline in the USA began in the early 1980s.

A summary of key findings from the Nevin study are available on the NCHH
website at http://nchh.org/Nevin2007LeadandCrimeStudy.pdf.

Highlights of the study appear below:
* International Lead Exposure and Crime Trends: The level of lead found in
preschoolers in the nine studied countries tracks the property and violent
crime rate trends in those countries at the time these preschoolers became
juveniles and young adults. Childhood exposure to leaded gasoline rose from
the 1930s through 1970, and all of the nations studied had rising crime
rates,
as these children became juveniles and young adults. Childhood lead exposure
fell in the USA and Canada from the mid-1970s through the early-1980s, as
lead
exposure remained high in most other industrial nations. Crime rates fell in
the 1990s in the USA and Canada, but peaked later in other nations, tracking
lead exposure trends in each nation.

* Murder and Additive Exposure to gas lead and lead paint hazards. The
1980-1994 murder rates in the United States mainly reflect trends in large
cities. The Nevin study shows that trends in air lead from gasoline explain
why the largest USA cities had such high murder rates. In the 1960s, large
cities (over a million people) had more than two times the air lead of
mid-sized cities (250,000 to a million people). Mid-sized cites had air lead
levels that were 40% higher than small cities (100-250 thousand people).
Average 1985-1994 murder rates in large cities were 57% higher than mid-size
cities, and mid-size cities had murder rates 40% higher than small cities.
The
1980s phase-out of the USA gas lead left little air lead difference by city
size, and there was little city size variation in 2000-2004 murder rates.
Nevin also shows that city differences in circa-1970 childhood lead paint
poisoning in severely deteriorated housing, and the additive effects of
paint
lead and gas lead exposure, also explain much of the variation in 1980-1994
city murder rates. Paint lead contributes to both air and lead dust through
paint deterioration, paint scraping and sanding, demolition and other
activities that generate dust from lead paint.

* Shifts in arrest rates by age group in Britain: Gas lead use rose in
Britain
after World War II (around 1946), and males born during this time had higher
offending rates twelve to fourteen years later than their counterparts born
before this increase in lead use. In the mid-1980s, British gas lead use
fell
and males born during this time had lower offending rates twelve to fourteen
years later.

* Shifts in California arrest rates by age group: In the United States, gas
lead use increased 400% between 1945 and 1955. Twenty years later, the
California juvenile index crime arrest rate increased by almost 300 percent
from 1965 to 1975. In 1975, California's juvenile index crime arrest rate
was
twice the adult rate, but juvenile offending plunged in the 1990s, tracking
the 1975-1985 decline in USA lead exposure. California's juvenile index
crime
arrest rate has been lower than the adult arrest rate since 2000.

* Shifts in overall USA arrest rates by age group: In the USA, there was a
1956 interim peak in gas lead use, when lead paint hazards were severe in
deteriorated urban slum housing built around 1900 when the lead content of
paint was extremely high. Urban renewal programs demolished much of the
oldest
and most deteriorated slums in the 1960s, and gas lead was phased out in the
early 1980s. The property crime arrest rate for youths under age 15 fell 45%
from 1970-2003, as the arrest rate for adults over 24 rose 58%. The 45% drop
in the under-15 arrest rate compares 1970 juveniles born near the mid-1950s
peak in additive exposure to lead paint hazards and gas lead versus 2003
juveniles born after the early-1980s fall in gas lead. The 58% increase in
the
over-24 arrest rate compares 1970 adults mostly born before the 1950s rise
in
gas lead (and slum crowding associated with urbanization) versus their 2003
counterparts born before the 1980s decline in gas lead.

Three things you or your contractors can do to protect your family during
home
renovations:
1. Keep lead dust away from people.
2. Use the right tools.
3. Work safely and clean up lead dust.

To find a contractor trained to work safely with lead, call 1-800-424-LEAD.
1. Keep lead dust away from people.
* Keep children and pregnant women away from the work area.
* Seal off the work area by covering floors, vents, doors and windows with
heavy plastic.
* If possible, remove furniture from the room. Cover any remaining furniture
with heavy plastic.

* 2. Use the right tools.
* Use vacuum cleaners and power tools with HEPA filters.
* If you use a power sander or grinder, be sure it has a HEPA filter as well
as a hood to trap dust.
* Never power wash or sand blast painted surfaces.
* Never use tools that create dust, chips, high heat or fumes.
* Never use open flame torches or heat guns at temperatures above 1100°F.
* Never use paint strippers that contain methylene chloride.

* 3. Work safely and clean up lead dust.
* Fix water damage that can make paint peel.
* Wet down the paint before you sand or scrape to control lead dust.
* Use heavy plastic bags to remove dust and other trash.
* After the job, wash floors and other surfaces with soap and water and
rinse
with fresh water.
* Remember lead dust can be too small to see.
* Consider testing for lead dust after the job is done. Call 1-800-424-LEAD
for a list of lead service providers.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

###

NCHH is the only national non-profit organization dedicated to developing
and
promoting practical measures to protect children from residential
environmental hazards while preserving affordable housing. NCHH develops
scientifically valid and practical strategies to make homes safe from
hazards,
to alert low- income families about housing-related health risks, and to
help
them protect their children. NCHH also works with governmental and
non-governmental organizations to develop standards and programs and guide
their implementation through insurers, lenders, federal and state laws and
regulations, community organizations, and the courts.

To read the Washington Post article, please go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR20070707010
73.html.

Phillip M. Dodge
Marketing & Development Officer
National Center for Healthy Housing
10320 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 500
Columbia, MD 21044
Phone: (443) 539-4168
Fax: (443) 539-4150
www.centerforhealthyhousing.org

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