Leaded gas from car exhausts has reduced the IQ level of the average American by around three points
Collectively, the fumes have robbed 170 million American adults of around 824 million IQ points, roughly three per person, researchers from Duke University have estimated.
Any American born before 1996—when lead was banned from gasoline—could be affected, and are showing signs of faster brain ageing. Those who were children in the 1960s and 70s are at special risk because lead in the environment was at peak levels during those decades.
People born in the mid to late 1960s could be the worst affected and may have lost up to six IQ points.
There’s no safe level of exposure to lead. It’s a neurotoxin that can erode brain cells, and children are at special risk of impaired brain development and lower cognitive ability, the researchers say.
(Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2118631119)
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