Leaded gasoline made Americans stupid

Exposure to leaded gasoline lowered the IQ of about half the population of the United States, a new study estimates.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on people born before 1996 — the year the U.S. banned gas containing lead. Overall, the researchers found childhood lead exposure cost America an estimated 2.6 points of IQ per person on average.

Certain cohorts were more affected than others. For people born in the 1960s and the 1970s, when leaded gas consumption was skyrocketing, the IQ loss was estimated in some cases to be more than 7 points.

Given that the average IQ is 100, 7 points is a considerable number, which you probably knew already if you were born after 1996.

Eliminating leaded gasoline was the work of the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency of the US government originally created during Nixon’s administration but often maligned and underfunded by Republican lawmakers today who want to turn a blind eye to pollution on behalf of corporate profits.

In fact, one of Trump’s first acts in office was to overturn a regulation that restricted coal companies from dumping mining waste – including poisons like mercury and lead – into streams and waterways. This would normally be the act of a poorly written Bond villain or Dr. Evil but instead was done by Trump and the Republicans in Congress in order to allow coal companies to increase profits.

You can’t make this stuff up.

When we allow corporate America to pollute our country, bad things happen. In the case of leaded gasoline, Americans actually get dumber. It’s why we must relentlessly support agencies like the EPA. Without it, companies would willfully poison Americans if it meant more money in their pockets.

But there’s good news in this study, too:

At least now have scientific evidence to explain the Capitol insurrectionists, kale enthusiasts, Tucker Carlson, the New York Jets, and Steely Dan fans.