Researchers: Leaded Gas Responsible For Crime Wave

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Leaded gasoline was invented by General Motors in the 1920s. Tetraethyl lead was a cheap octane booster and antiknock agent. It prevented exhaust valve and valve seat wear and allowed much higher engine compression. It also could have been the cause of the big post-war crime wave, researchers say.

Several researchers, cited in an article in Mother Jones, tied the rise of crime in the ‘60s and ‘70s to rising levels of lead in the atmosphere and in people. They also tied the drop in crime since the ‘90s to diminished lead exposure after leaded gasoline was phased out.

Lead exposure in small children has been linked to lower IQ, hyperactivity, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, and now – crime. Crime manifests itself decades after exposure: Toddlers who ingested high levels of lead in the ’40s and ’50s were seen more likely to become violent criminals in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Interestingly, leaded gasoline could still cause mayhem if there would not have been another big city problem: Smog. Car emissions were battled with catalytic converters, but leaded gasoline was murder on the catalytic converters, which led to a phase-out of lead in gasoline.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • 50merc 50merc on Jan 08, 2013

    For now, skepticism is appropriate. Statistical analysis of complex phenomena is like playing the guitar: easy to do badly; hard to do well. And Mother Jones is not a refereed scholarly journal. It is a hell-raising hard-left magazine. I'm surprised Ronnie reads it. The article was written by a self-described "political blogger" for the magazine. The Puffin Foundation (another leftist outfit) helped fund it, and The Nation [magazine, self-styled "flagship of the left"] Institute is in there somewhere. The author's reflexive dismissal of incarceration's value in reducing crime is part of the package. When violent criminals are locked up, we don't have to wait 20 years for the societal benefits.

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    • Steve65 Steve65 on Jan 10, 2013

      @GusTurbo "there’s nothing liberal or conservative about wanting to remove harmful substances from the environment." Sure there is. I can already hear the howls of outrage when you tell the "job creators" that they have to incur the costs of cleaning up after themselves.

  • Pch101 Pch101 on Jan 09, 2013

    "To me at least, advocating for less lead in the environment seems pretty uncontroversial." It's a cost-benefit problem. Remediation is expensive, and unlike much of the environmental remediation that is typical today, most of these types of costs would have to be borne by regular folks who may not be able to afford them. Anyone with an older home in an urban area could potentially be liable. Any laws requiring remediation could compromise property values and the ability to sell or refinance property. The cure could be worse than the disease; if the contamination issue is large enough, then plummeting values could encourage more blight, which helps to create more opportunities for more urban decline and (ironically enough) more crime.

  • Skor Skor on Jan 09, 2013

    When I was a kid...1970s.....my friends and I had minibikes. We would siphon leaded gas out of the gas tanks of our parents' cars by mouth to fill up our minibikes. Hasn't hurt me any.......and if you don't believe me, I'll kill you.

  • DenverMike DenverMike on Jan 11, 2013

    Nope, it was the Pill. The dramatic drop in crime rate was directly attributed the wide spread availability and use of oral contraceptives in the late '60s.

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