Study links lead in childhood well water to teen delinquency
Children who drank well water with lead have higher risk of delinquency,
based on Wake County, N.C. dataset
Date:
February 1, 2022
Source:
Duke University
Summary:
Exposure to lead in drinking water from private wells during
early childhood is associated with an increased risk of being
reported for delinquency during teenage years, according to a new
study. Researchers found that children who get their water from
private wells before age 6 have higher blood lead levels and also
have a 21% higher risk of being reported for any delinquency after
age 14.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Exposure to lead in drinking water from private wells during early
childhood is associated with an increased risk of being reported for delinquency during teenage years, according to a new study by Indiana University, Duke University and other researchers that uses data from
Wake County.
==========================================================================
The study, appearing this week in Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, found that children who get their water from private wells
before age 6 have higher blood lead levels and, as a result, have a 21%
higher risk of being reported for any delinquency after age 14, and a
38% increased risk of having a record for a serious complaint, such as
felony property or weapons offenses and misdemeanor assault.
"We know that lead exposure early in life has been linked to lower IQ,
reduced lifetime earnings and an increased risk for behavioral problems
and criminal activity," said Jackie MacDonald Gibson, lead author of
the study and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational
Health at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington.
"This research highlights the need to recognize the risks to children
relying on private well water and for new programs to ensure they have
access to clean drinking water. Failing to do so imposes burdens not
just on the affected children and their families but also on society at
large," Gibson said.
Researchers analyzed a 20-year dataset linking blood lead measurements
for 13,580 children under the age of 6 to their drinking water source
before age 6, and to reported juvenile delinquency records after the
children reached age 14.
The dataset was drawn from records of all children who were tested for
blood lead levels in Wake County, NC, between 1998 and 2011 and juvenile delinquency reports of the children in the sample from the NC Department
of Public Safety database.
==========================================================================
The Wake County sample included rural areas, wealthy newer exurban
developments and majority Black communities that were historically
excluded from municipal incorporation and access to services.
"Lead in drinking water is a problem whenever it occurs. In Wake County,
it is not a problem for households on city water, but it sometimes is
for those that are supplied by wells," said co-author Philip J. Cook,
Duke Sanford School of Public Policy professor emeritus.
"Well water is often a bit corrosive, and if there is lead in the pipes
(as joint solder, for example) then the water leaches the lead out
on its way to the faucet. City water is treated so that it will not
be corrosive." "The newest well-supplied houses don't have this issue
because recent regulations don't allow the use of lead in the pipes. But
for older residences that haven't been re-piped, it is often a problem,"
Cook said.
In addition to finding a correlation between lead exposure and behavioral problems in teens, the study also found that blood lead levels were approximately 11% higher in children relying on private wells, compared
to children provided with community water service.
========================================================================== Long-term costs of the high-risk youth include victim costs of crime,
criminal justice costs and foregone earnings. A previous study estimated
that "saving" one youth at risk for being caught in the adult criminal
justice system yields social benefits of $1.3 to $1.5 million in 1997
dollars, equivalent to $2.2 to $2.5 million today.
The Biden administration recently announced a federal action plan to
replace lead pipes that connect some 10 million homes to community water systems. But Gibson said that while this plan is an essential step forward
in decreasing children's risk of exposure to lead in drinking water, it
does not solve the problem of children's exposure to lead from private
well water.
Currently, 13% of U.S. households rely on private wells. Domestic wells
are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act and are therefore
rarely tested for lead or treated to prevent lead dissolution from
household plumbing and fixtures, Gibson said.
To address this issue, researchers said neighborhoods that rely on
private wells and border cities or towns but are not incorporated in
them are good candidates for community water service extensions due to
their close proximity to existing infrastructure. Those farther away,
they said, could be provided with household water filters at subsidized
rates depending on income.
"This research confirms the urgent need to prevent early-life exposure to
lead in drinking water," Gibson said. "Technology to solve this problem
is readily available, and putting it in place is a matter of political
will and should be part of upgrading infrastructure in the U.S." "Ours is
not the first study to find that children who grow up with lead in their
water supply are more likely to get involved in criminal activity. But
by connecting the problem to wells in Wake County, our results provide
a clear guide for what needs to be done locally," Cook said.
John M. McDonald of the University of Pennsylvania; Michael Fisher of
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Xiwei Chen and
Aralia Pawlick of Indiana University contributed to the study.
special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Duke_University. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, John M. MacDonald, Michael Fisher,
Xiwei
Chen, Aralia Pawlick, Philip J. Cook. Early life lead exposure
from private well water increases juvenile delinquency risk among
US teens.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119 (6):
e2110694119 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2110694119 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220201113647.htm
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