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Abstract
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Recently, the United States' Congress passed and President Joseph Biden signed a long-anticipated, bipartisan, "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" (1). The legislation includes ~$1 trillion for infrastructure updates and modernization. Although many have focused on its funding for transportation projects, namely roads and bridges, there is another rarely discussed benefit the bill is likely to provide: reducing community violence. That is because the final bill included $15 billion dedicated to lead pipe removal.
Lead is a naturally occurring heavy metal that until recent decades was commonly utilized in gasoline, household paint, and water service lines. We now know that lead is a poisonous metal and a devastating neurotoxin. This knowledge led to governmental actions that forbids lead content in all three sources (2). In the population of gunshot survivors, retained bullet fragments act as a source of direct toxicity as well (3). Despite this understanding, the United States still maintains a water supply that utilizes 6.1 million lead service lines today (4). The result is an ongoing public health problem.
It may seem odd to think of lead pipes and violent crime as linked, but evidence indicates that exposure to lead in childhood is a risk factor for violence later in life (5, 6). This should not be surprising as the effects of lead on brain development are well documented in the scientific literature. Specifically, lead affects the development of children's cerebellum, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. These are areas of the brain that are critical for cognition, behavior and memory.
Although causes of violence are multifactorial, including issues as entrenched as poverty, racial inequity, and disparities in policing and education, violent crime is often an impulsive act. Given the neurocognitive effects of lead exposure, it is no surprise that research has shown an association between lead exposure and criminal justice system involvement (7). Robust data from the economic literature provides convincing evidence of the causal effects of the toxins on risky, antisocial behaviors, such as violence (5). Taken together, many experts now consider prior lead abatement measures to be a significant component of the "Great American Crime Decline" of the 1990s (8).
To be clear, combatting community violence in our communities will require a "health in all policies" approach to address the deeply entrenched racial inequities. While childhood lead exposure is a notable risk factor for violence, it is not the primary driver. Decades of policy, rooted in structural racism, have progressively compounded the challenge. For example, research examining the effect of racial discrimination in the 1930s, commonly known as redlining, show persistent adverse effects on the social determinates of health, including elevated levels of gun violence nearly a century later...
Language: en |