Research Links Lead Exposure, Criminal Activity: Data May Undermine Giuliani's Claims

[LiberalFighter]

Research Links Lead Exposure, Criminal Activity: Data May Undermine Giuliani's Claims 7/8/2007 Washington Post
By Shankar Vedantam

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette headline: Less lead, not Giuliani, cut NYC crime: Study

Rudy Giuliani never misses an opportunity to remind people about his track record in fighting crime as mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.

"I began with the city that was the crime capital of America," Giuliani, now a candidate for president, recently told Fox's Chris Wallace. "When I left, it was the safest large city in America. I reduced homicides by 67 percent. I reduced overall crime by 57 percent."

Although crime did fall dramatically in New York during Giuliani's tenure, a broad range of scientific research has emerged in recent years to show that the mayor deserves only a fraction of the credit that he claims. The most compelling information has come from an economist in Fairfax who has argued in a series of little-noticed papers that the "New York miracle" was caused by local and federal efforts decades earlier to reduce lead poisoning.

The theory offered by the economist, Rick Nevin, is that lead poisoning accounts for much of the variation in violent crime in the United States. It offers a unifying new neurochemical theory for fluctuations in the crime rate, and it is based on studies linking children's exposure to lead with violent behavior later in their lives.

[Hand]

1. Interesting theory--and a valid one!

Lead poisoning can lead to dementia, sometimes very severe at that. The classic example is the 19th century Franklin expedition to explore the Northwest Passage--they were living on canned food that was contaminated with lead from the solder used in the seams of the cans.

Pretty much everybody went nuts--when their ships were icebound for months, they set off on land pulling sledges with items like all the silverware, a grand piano, etc., in the conviction that they needed these things. When the Inuit natives approached with offers of assistance, they freaked and ran away.

There's evidence that some of the crew eventually turned to cannibalism as well. It was grim stuff. :scared: