Introduction

• African Americans & other marginalized communities of color = preferentially affected by environmental toxins thought to lower IQ
  • Bc more likely to live in sacrificial zones assaulted by poisons and hazards
  • Lack of adherence in US to precautionary principle, that we should expose people to chemicals if we aren’t sure they’re safe
• Addressing this injustice will be a very effective way to close racial IQ gap, thus benefitting all of America
  • Ex. effect of adding iodine to salt on IQ
• Jeremy Bentham → “The plea of impossibility offers itself at every step, in justification of injustice in all its forms.”

Part I: Color-Coded Intelligence?

Chapter 1: The Prism of Race

• Failure to acknowledge that racial IQ gap is not innate/hereditary, but rather very dependent on geographic & environmental factors → robs us of a tool to close the gap (and help people)
• Intelligence is notoriously hard to define, and not the same as the cognitive skills measured by IQ
  • Idea of comparative IQ scores is really only applicable within group of people with equivalent opportunities, motivation
  • IQ designed explicitly not as a predictive test, which is how it is used today, but to measure weakness of students already underperforming
• Race = social construction, but has real-world, biological consequences
  • Based on physical appearance and laws before emancipation, but often conflated with actual genetic/ancestral groupings
  • Especially mis-fitting bc so much unacknowledged mating between black and white Americans
  • Similarly, grouping Latinos and Hispanics masks a much more diverse composition
  • Asians, too, harmed by the model minority myth: stress & pressure → suicide risk, resentment from other groups, traits of intelligence/good at math & science → too calculating/not creative/no interpersonal skills

“When it comes to exposure that limits cognition, race as a social construction becomes race as biological fate. Unless we choose to intervene.”

Part II: The Brain Thieves

Chapter 2: The Lead Age

• Romans infused their food/wine with lead for the sweet flavor... plumbing derived from Latin for lead, plumbum (→ Pb)
• We know lead is incredibly toxic, so why do so many African American children suffer from lead poisoning?
  • Shockingly unethical studies by KKI (associated with Hopkins) → too expensive to completely remove lead from houses, so partially did, then specifically rented homes to AA families with children to see how different levels of lead abatement affected them
• Industrial greed > public safety when in 1920s, GM chose to use fuel with lead despite cheaper, more available ethanol, so they could patent it
  • Lead inhaled by people, esp harmful to children

“Poverty is certainly a risk factor for environmental exposure, but race is a larger and more consistent one.”

• Common pattern in response by industry in response to evidence of environmental poisoning = raising public doubts (basically, misinformation)
  • Demand (expensive) proof of danger before a ban— opposite of what the policy should be! More lives compromised, expense on healthcare system, lost IQ
  • Precautionary principle suggests proving chemical’s safety before approval, as in the EU
• Effects of lead poisoning...
  • Esp. damaging to neurodevelopment
  • Often latent, until later assault on immune system, etc. occurs
  • Childhood blood lead = predictive form disciplinary problems, juvenile and adult crime
• Poisoned water in Flint, Michigan
• “Just a 5 point IQ drop” → 57% increase in mental retardation, cuts number of “gifted” kids by half

Chapter 3: Poisoned World

• AA and Hispanic children exposed to more polluted air than white children — closer to oil and gas facilities
• AAs + other POC 79% more likely than white Americans to live near sources IOC neurotoxicants
  • Class of undertested chemicals that poison the brain, interfere with development
• Studies focus more on environmental hazard placement wrt class, but overshadows stronger (and more shameful) connection with race
  • Ex. Middle-class blacks much more affected than poor whites
• Air pollution (gases and particulates) kill over 50k people annually even in America
  • Injure developing brains of children
  • Lead to asthma (which can reduce IQ, by hypoxia)
  • Leads to many brain disorders, intellectual and behavioral issues, mental health problems (in addition to cancer)
• Specific effects of magnetite (→ Alzheimer’s), benzene, etc. have been studied, each toxin affects cognition in different ways
• 1960s, Monsanto run-off and toxic waste (incl. PCBs) poisoned entire community in Anniston.. and they were well aware of danger of the chemicals
  • Eventual compensation from law suit was laughable, esp when compared to similar incident in Japan
• Pesticide use → huge cumulative national IQ loss, most from prenatal exposure
• Many cases of industrial waste dumped on Native American reservations — sometimes forced to accept it by economic conditions
  • Acid mine drainage, mercury released by coal-fired plants

Chapter 4: Prenatal Policies

• Protection must begin in the womb
• Conflict in following conventional advice on breast-feeding, giving babies a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, when those are also sources of neurotoxic pollutants

“Even very low levels of exposure can wreak cognitive havoc [during critical stages of brain development].”

• Endocrine disrupters (EDs) → interfere with hormonal signals → in addition to direct hormonal issues (including reproductive problems) causes lowered intelligence & IQ
  • Lack of evidence of risk of many chemicals due more to research vacuum and actual harmlessness
• Heavy metal exposure → drop in fertility, increase in miscarriages (see clearly in data from Flint)
• Air pollution, vermin, waterborne microbes all pose threats to pregnant mothers and babies
  • Often conditions impossible did AA families to physically escape due to housing segregation
• Problem of mercury: confusing bc elemental form is benign, but methylmercury is neurotoxic
  • But mercury can be metabolized into methylmercury by waterborne microbes, presence of other industrial waste like iron
• AAs less likely to be counseled to avoid alcohol, tobacco during pregnancy
• Very high infant mortality among blacks in America, with race >> socioeconomics as driving factor (AA lawyers and doctors more likely than whites without GED to suffer from death of infant)

Chapter 5: Bugs in the System

• Parasite-stress theory of intelligence: fighting off microbial infection is metabolically expensive → interferes with brain development
• Fetal damage from Zika → physical and mental disease
• Only recently with new tech knowledge → draw connections btw infection & cognition
• “Neglected tropical diseases” prevalent among American poor, enclaves of AAs and Hispanics
• Infectious disease → most powerful predictor of average national IQ, controlling for other key factors
  • Explains potential mechanism of Flynn effect, which is too dramatic to be genetic
• Almost 9/10 HIV+ children are AA or Hispanic
  • Also has brain-damaging effects
• Infectious diseases often thrive due to inadequate environmental safety in at-risk communities

Part III: Mission Possible: How to Bolster the Nation's IQ

Chapter 6: Taking the Cure

• Prevention is key, b/c recovery from environmental poisoning is very difficult
  • Obvious solution = eradicate underregulated and harmful poisons from where people live, work and learn... but we need more then just knowledge → political solutions
  • Strong, active EPA prioritizing people > industry
  • Until then, what can individuals do to fight for a less toxic environment?
• Enroll your kids in pre-K
• Fight toxins in schools
• Poison-proof your home
• Poison-proof your water
• Avoid brain-draining contaminants in food (especially for pregnant women)
  • GRAS = "generally recognized as safe" → not specifically tested for human safety
  • Must be especially careful with children, fetuses
• Avoid heavy metals

Chapter 7: A Wonderful Thing to Save

• Human-rights movements to protest use of toxic chemicals by industry
• Need to include marginalized communities in environmental movement
  • "Toxic environment" also includes lack of access to nature, which has many stress-reducing benefits