The youngest of us may not even remember it, but there was a time, not too long ago, when cars ran on leaded gasoline. The practice is now prohibited. A boon to public health. But now researchers believe that Generation X is permanently addicted.
The story begins in 1921. In a laboratory of General Motorsin the United States. With the hope of ending The vibrationThe vibration Dangerous engine the carthe car Fueled by inferior gasoline, chemists attempt an experiment. They put a little. LeadLead tetraethyl (Pb (C2H5)4). And it works. Leaded petrol has just seen the light of day.
The problem is that lead exhaust fumes have been found to be even more toxic than others. They are linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke and most importantly, developmental delays in children. But we had to wait 100 years for that leaded gasoline to finally disappear from our gas stations again. According to United Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), its adherence saves more than 1.2 million lives every year.
The brain eats lead.
Today, researchers from Florida State University and Duke University (United States) have disclosed in a study published. Journal of Child Psychology and PsychiatryAnyone born in the United States before 1996 (the date of the country’s ban on leaded gasoline) and especially during the peak use of lead in gasoline in the 1960s and 1970s, as a child is disturbingly true. It came out. “Distressing” means that entire generations of Americans today are more depressed, more anxious, more careless or more impulsive. Studies estimate that lead added to the gasoline in our cars is responsible for 151 million cases of mental illness in the US over the past 75 years!
Remember that lead is known to scientists for its neurotoxic action. And according to experts, there is no level of exposure and no moment in life that can be classified as risk-free. The matterThe matter. Although small children whose minds constructionconstruction are particularly vulnerable to these effects. “We have very few effective measures to manage lead once it enters the body, and many of us are exposed to levels 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural level.”Aaron Reuben, a neuropsychology researcher at Duke University, laments.
Pollution that gave fever to an entire generation.
To understand how widespread lead-related symptoms of mental illness are, researchers have looked at the effects of lead exposure on intelligence quotient (IQ), as in the past.
do you know
Researchers from Florida State University and Duke University (United States) already proved in 2022 that the population of the United States lost 824 million IQ points during XX due to exposure to lead.e century
They analyzed historical data on blood lead levels and leaded gasoline use among children in the United States, as well as population statistics. And they observed significant changes in the mental health of Americans. High rates of diagnosable mental disorders – such as depression and anxiety – but also high rates of people experiencing mild anxiety – which only worsens their quality of life. Much more than if gasoline had no lead.
“For most people, the effect of lead would have been like a mild fever.thinks Aaron Rubin. For a mild fever, you don’t go to the hospital. You are not looking for a cure. But you’ll have a little more trouble if you don’t have a fever. And given the evolution of leaded gasoline consumption, it’s Generation X — those born between 1965 and 1980 — who should be living with the worst effects of this fever today.
