How Leaded Gasoline May Have Caused Depression, Anxiety, & ADHD In 150 Million Gen X & Elder Millennials, According To Study
MAYA LAB | Shutterstock It's become a common internet joke in recent years to attribute boomers' often obstinate personalities to lead poisoning from their pre-regulation upbringings in a world positively covered in lead paint.
However, a study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found a potential link between lead and mental health in younger generations. Although everyone likes to poke fun at boomers, they might not be the generation that was hit the hardest by lead exposure after all.
The study revealed that leaded gasoline may have caused mental health issues for Gen Xers and elder millennials.
According to an NBC News analysis of the study, the research was conducted by teams at Duke University, Florida State University, and the Medical University of South Carolina. They concluded that the previous use of lead in gasoline means more than half of the current U.S. population was exposed to unhealthy lead levels as kids.
Lead was first added to gasoline in 1923, as it was protective to engines and improved their performance and efficiency. Those improvements came at the cost of lead exposure, however, which causes all kinds of neurological and developmental harm to humans, especially children.
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Interestingly, Thomas Midgley Jr., an engineer at General Motors, made the discovery that lead was helpful to engines. But he wasn't able to attend the event that celebrated the launch of the results of his work since he was, in fact, recovering from lead poisoning at the time.
The U.S. began phasing out lead in gas in 1975 because of pollution, not lead poisoning. Nevertheless, there was still plenty of time for it to do real harm to human beings, according to the study.
The study found anyone born before 1996 had high levels of childhood lead exposure, likely due to car exhaust.
The study looked at the level of lead present in children's blood between 1940 and 2015, and the data showed some 151 million excess cases of mental health disorders over that time. Researchers found that basically everyone born before 1996, when the use of lead in gas was fully phased out, likely had worryingly high levels of childhood lead exposure that probably came from car exhaust.
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This group does include boomers, of course, who were born between 1946 and 1964. They remain the most frequent butt of jokes about lead exposure causing personality issues and "Karen" tendencies. Lower impulse control and neuroticism, which the study found to be highly correlated with lead exhaust exposure, could certainly explain these traits.
Yet it wasn't boomers who the study found were most impacted. Rather, it was Gen Xers and the "elder" millennial cohort born between 1966 and 1986 who had a higher incidence of conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Those born between 1966 and 1970 were the most impacted of all.
The study backs up previous data about lead exposure, including a link to crime rates.
The CDC has stated unequivocally that there is no safe level of lead exposure for humans, especially children. Unfortunately, it's still found in many places, from plumbing service lines to old paint and even some toys made overseas.
Experts say this new study backs up previous data about the dangers of lead exposure and explains not only Gen X and older millennials' tendency toward mental health issues, but also data that has linked lead exposure to crime rates.
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For example, a separate study published in 2022 introduced the idea of "the lead-crime hypothesis." Researchers attributed the steep declines in crime of all types in the 1990s and 2000s at least in part to declining levels of lead poisoning due to bans on lead gasoline, lead paint, and other products in the 1970s.
The study shouldn't cause immediate alarm bells, though. Co-author Dr. Aaron Reuben said their research was not definitive proof that there is a causal relationship between lead and mental illness (or crime rates, for that matter). But it does "add more evidence that removing lead from our environment and not putting it there in the first place has more benefits than we previously understood."
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
