2026-02-03 23:01 UTC
@obscurestar@mastodon.social @martinvermeer@fediscience.org @dantheclamman@scicomm.xyz Actually, the lead-crime correlation shows up across all industrialized societies in 20c. That the curves line up despite different countries industrializing and moving to automobiles at different times indicates that lead exposure was a major factor. It was not contained in the US, far from it.
I think the burden of proof is on those who suggest that what we know to be true about lead exposure for individuals and small groups of people somehow doesn't scale to large groups.
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@obscurestar@mastodon.social 2026-02-03 23:47
@tasket@infosec.exchange @martinvermeer@fediscience.org @dantheclamman@scicomm.xyz I don't at all doubt that lead, particularly tetraethyl lead isn't toxic and a contaminant on a massive scale (not to mention used for the stupidest pure greed reasons). Even the Romans knew that lead was bad news. Correlation across many industrialized nations can well constitute a smoking gun but correlation is not always causation. Just urging caution with blanket statements.