Leaded gasoline exposure cost Americans born before 1996 an estimated 824 million IQ points, averaging 2.6 points per person, much smaller than iodization’s claimed 15-point gap-closing effect.

Evidence

Lead gasoline blunted IQ of half the US population, study finds (NBC News)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Iodizing salt in 1924 closed a 15-point IQ gap cheaply; Lead poisoning costs the US billions of dollars and millions of IQ points yearly — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 37; Targeted interventions can raise a nation’s average intelligence level (+5 more)

Related

• Lead was a widely distributed developmental neurotoxicant with unknown but likely substantial consequences for population-level IQ. (similarity 0.83)
• Lead poisoning costs the US billions of dollars and millions of IQ points yearly (similarity 0.81)
• Previous studies reported economic losses of $165-319 billion in lost wages from lead exposure (similarity 0.80)
• Changes in childhood lead exposure are responsible for a 56% drop in violent crime in the 1990s, via effects on impulsivity, aggression, and IQ. (similarity 0.78)

Library Connections

• Lead poisoning costs the US billions of dollars and millions of IQ points yearly #expands (0.85) — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 37

Broader Connections

• Targeted interventions can raise a nation’s average intelligence level #exemplifies (0.70)