This article from JAMA (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2846867) tells the story of figuring out why the rate of heart disease had decreased precipitously. Although lead had long been known to poison the heart, it hadn’t been considered a factor in heart disease. Investigation attributed most of the unexplained decline to the decrease of lead, not just from gasoline but also paint and safer recycling of batteries.
‘In the US, coronary heart disease mortality rose in the 1930s and 1940s alongside expanding production of leaded gasoline. By 1968 - the year production peaked - coronary heart disease accounted for 1 in 3 deaths.
‘Coronary heart disease mortality then began a steep and sustained decline. During this same period, production of leaded gasoline and blood lead levels dropped in parallel. Hypertension prevalence also declined - from roughly 1 in 3 adults in the mid-1970s to 1 in 5 by the early 1990s.
‘In 1978, more than 80 physicians and scientists gathered in Bethesda, Maryland, at what became known as the Decline Conference, to understand why myocardial infarctions had suddenly decreased. Nearly 190 000 fewer deaths had occurred than expected. Antihypertensive medications were not yet widely used, and traditional risk factors did not fully explain the shift."’
Violent crime also allegedly spiked and declined a couple decades after childhood exposure to lead and other heavy metals (mercury in dental filings, etc.) :
Heavy metals (aluminum, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc.)do not, in any quantiity, belong in the human body or blood stream.
They have been linked clinically to a wide assortment of childhood developmental and behavioral issues, along with chronic and acute illnesses in people of all ages.
The best place for heavy metal is on an iPod or the radio.
I understand smoking is a very tough habit to break. I know a few that have quit but still crave them every now and again.
Never a smoker but both my parents and 3 of 4 grandparents were. 2 quit in their 50s and lived long lives. The others… well, all died from smoking related illnesses at earlier ages.
Ah, but when you have VC behind every tree, who worries about your lungs. I think it was around 90% of us that smoked. C rations had mini pack of four cigarettes in each meal. Chesterfields or Pall Malls!
What is wrong with you? There is no safe level of lead getting in our ground water. For Flourude to be a problem it would have to many times the amount that is put in our drinking water.
I traded my cigs from my C rations for their dessert. I got used to smokers because my parents smoked. Both my parents and older sister died from smoking related illnesses. When I went to Nam and came back home, I couldn’t stand the smoke anymore. I can’t stand being around smokers Thank ■■■ we now have smoking laws that prevent the rest of us from being poisoned by someone’s bad habit.
Why is there a hotspot of higher soil lead contamination in area away from highway in mpls? There was never any heavy manufacturing in this part of downtown mpls. The interstate is laid out in a tee where cars go east or west. The area to the east has more traffic, so higher lead concentration
. I think it was around 90% of us that smoked. C rations had mini pack of four cigarettes in each meal. Chesterfields or Pall Malls!