Australia’s part in the rise and fall in violent crime globally: questions arising

  Unpublished letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald from Elizabeth O’Brien re: “Lead poisoning linked to waves of violent crime”

Elizabeth O’Brien, President, The LEAD Group Inc (charity)

Sir,

Excellent article by George Monbiot. Fully-referenced version on his website, cites a Mother Jones article by Kevin Drum plus an article I co-wrote.

Kevin Drum wrote: “Gasoline lead may explain as much as 90 percent of the rise and fall of violent crime over the past half century” and the cost benefit? Invest US$20bn annually in lead abatement and the return is US$210bn annually.

It’s a fair bet that most of the lead used in leaded petrol/gasoline globally, at least in the past, was mined in Australia. Australians deserve to know whether we continue to contribute to the crime in 6 or 7 countries of adding lead to petrol.

Questions raised: Could Julia Gillard personally undertake to ensure that Australian lead is not being made into leaded petrol anymore? Will Tanya Plibersek ensure Australia has a functioning XRF bone machine to assess whole-of-life body burden of lead? Will Jason Clare organise blood lead and bone lead research in violent criminals? When will Australian governments start funding lead clean up as an investment in crime prevention?

References:

The hidden villain behind rampant crime, lower IQs, even rising ADHD? Pb(CH2CH3)4 [tetra ethyl lead (TEL)]  by Kevin Drum. 

Obituary. A toxin in your tank - Lead is tantalisingly close to death: in 2013 the world is meant to stop using leaded petrol by Ann Wroe 2012. 

 Supply Chain for the Lead in Leaded Petrol. LEAD Action News, vol.11, no.4 by Anne Roberts and Elizabeth O’Brien, 2011.

Lead In Petrol: The Mistake Of The XXth Century, in World Health Statistics Quarterly 43 (1990) by Carl M Shy.