• Study links lead in childhood well water

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Feb 1 21:30:42 2022
    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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