Did you know that there is a connection between violent behavior and the levels of lead in gasoline? Apparently it increases your cognitive and behavior traits such as aggressiveness, low IQ or impulsivity which is, as you know, very much related to crimes.

An article in The New York Times a few days ago, explained how the Clean Air Act of 1973 for less pollution and smog in the air phased out the leaded gasoline with a result, violent crimes fallen sharply, by 56%. Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, an economist at Amherst College, conducted research on lead poisoning with the main source, gasoline.

Her research compiled a table that linked crimes and lead levels in the air and though I am not sure this isn’t just an accident that these two are correlated Reyes could be right. If she is right, then warnings should be sent to countries that didn’t ban leaded gasoline because their children are just growing up now and violent crimes may increase in the upcoming years.

Research paper (PDF)