For years the rate of violent crime has fallen in the United States. It’s good news, but experts have never been able to explain why crime rates spiked in the 1980s and 1990s but then dramatically dropped in the 2000s. Theories ranging from improved police techniques to the ‘crack epidemic’ to the legalization of abortion have all been proposed by researchers, but none seem to quite fit the facts.

Now, researchers say they may have found the perfect scapegoat for violent crime: leaded gasoline.

A new study has revealed that the rise and fall of leaded gasoline strongly correlates with the pattern of violent crime rates in America.

Past research have linked high lead levels to birth defects, lower intelligence and hearing problems, but now researcher are beginning to uncover evidence that it also causes high levels of aggression.

Tulane University toxicologist Howard W. Mielke found that children exposed to high levels of lead in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a significant uptick in crime 20 years later.

Mielke found that when the use of leaded gasoline dropped in the 1980s, crime rates also declined at corresponding rates.

Further research found the chilling correlation in countries around the world and in six U.S. cities: Atlanta, […]