Did lead poisoning help create a generation of serial killers?
Fraser outlines her investigation into the 'lead crime hypothesis', which links male violence with exposure to air pollution, and shows how that theory might help explain the relationship between the sharp drop in violent crime and the phasing out of lead fuel and inner-city smelting, and why the impact of pollution in our environment should not be overlooked.
Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/todayinfocuspod
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
2 minutes ago
- The Sun
I risked prison to marry my cousin, the sex was sensational and we had a baby – but then my world fell apart
Angie Peng suffered a devastating blow just 14 months after their son was born FAMILY TIES I risked prison to marry my cousin, the sex was sensational and we had a baby – but then my world fell apart A PREGNANCY announcement is usually met with messages of love and support but Angie Peng faced only vile hate instead. Sick messages told the mum-to-be she was evil and that her baby would be 'born with 10 heads'. 4 Michael and Angie Peng married and had a baby together despite being first cousins Credit: supplied So bitter was the vitriol that Angie, now 44, was forced to turn comments off altogether. But it wasn't the pregnancy itself that was generating the hate but how it came about as the father of Angie's baby is her first cousin Michael. The couple faced hostility from the moment they announced their relationship from both strangers and their own family. Angie says: 'We posted a video of us kissing on the family Facebook page. 'One family member commented, 'I'll never be OK with this, you share the same blood.' 'Another said we were bringing dishonour on the family. That hurt but ultimately we were just two adults in love. What's so wrong with that?' Growing up, Angie had always felt drawn to Michael. She says: 'He was 10 months younger than me, but we only saw each other every few years because my dad's job took us overseas. 'When we were both seven, I saw him at a family party and we both felt an immediate connection. 'We made little rings out of pipe cleaners, which now seems quite symbolic. I visited 'world's most incestuous town' to track down infamous family - I was reported to POLICE and chased out of town 'Later, we climbed into a wardrobe, shut the door and shared a kiss. "His little brother opened the door, saw us and ran off shouting that he knew what we did, it made me wonder if we had done something wrong. 'Later that day, Michael told my mum he was going to marry me, she told him that we could only be good friends.' But the pair's bond grew. Angie, an artist, says: 'By the time I was 10, I had short hair, and Michael and I looked so alike, it was like looking at myself. 'Our personalities aligned too; we were both playful and mischievous. 'We'd sneak off, holding hands, desperate to be alone together. 'The other cousins would follow us though and report back to the adults. Eventually, my mum told me not to act so 'extra' with Michael.' 4 The couple, seen as children, were attracted to one another from a young age Credit: supplied 4 They were forced to travel across the country to marry as they faced five years in prison if they married in Utah Credit: supplied The cousins, who are from a large Mormon family, refused to let anyone come between them. Then, just before Angie left for university aged 17, they both stayed the night at their mutual grandmother's house. Angie says: "Michael snuck into my bedroom but nothing intimate happened, we just lay there talking for hours." Two years later, Angie married someone else and went on to have three children. Michael married too, and out of respect for each other's relationships, the cousins kept their distance from each other. But after nine years, Angie got divorced. She began working as a stripper in an unconventional attempt to boost her body image, and had been a single mum for 10 years when, in 2018, Michael's photo popped up on Facebook. Angie says: 'It turned out we were both living in Utah and his marriage had ended too. 'We started talking online and I started having dreams about him. My oldest said the relationship wasn't acceptable Angie Pen 'When I told him, he said he'd dreamt about me too saying sometimes it was innocent and sometimes sexual. 'One day I asked if he'd marry me and he said, 'In a heartbeat'.' They met up soon after at a family gathering and, the following month, in January 2019, shared their first adult kiss. Angie says: 'I didn't have my kids that day, so we got together at my house. 'Michael was shaking with nerves and I was sweating. 'We ended up kissing passionately for three hours. 'A few weeks later, we made love for the first time. It was sensational – both physically and spiritually.' Not wanting to waste time, they went online and were horrified to discover that marriage between first cousins in their home state of Utah risked up to five years in prison – but it was legal in nearby Colorado. Angie says: 'It was crazy, it should be legal everywhere. Love is love.' They decided to do it, but first they had to break news of their relationship to their parents. Angie insists that despite the initial shock, they all took it well – but Angie's three children, then aged 17, 15 and 11, didn't. Angie says: 'My middle child started crying. 'My oldest said the relationship wasn't acceptable. 'I realised we were hurting people but I was so full of gusto and enthusiasm, I didn't want to give Michael up. He made me happy.' Then came their Facebook announcement with the kissing video, which outraged their wider relatives. But not wanting it to deter them, just two months later, in March 2020, the couple went to Colorado for a civil wedding – one of just 18 states allowing unrestricted marriage between first cousins. Angie's children came round in the end. Can I marry my cousin in the UK? ACROSS the globe, more than 10 percent of marriages are between first or second cousins. In the UK, there's no legal bar to two cousins having a relationship. That means that if end up falling for the children of your aunts and uncles, there's nothing stopping you from eventually tying the knot. If you're over the age of 18, you can do this without the consent of your legal guardian or parent. First-cousin marriages were once quite common in Europe, especially among the elite. She says: 'There were no guests, no flowers. 'Michael had cold feet the night before; he was sensitive and was freaking out but he loved me so he did it anyway. 'When we uploaded the wedding video to Facebook, someone said that it wasn't the place to post that, but other family said congratulations.' The couple later started an online petition calling for marriage between cousins to be made legal. It was met with more backlash, but Angie felt it was important to have their voices heard. A few months later, Angie fell pregnant but sadly miscarried at 10 weeks. She says: 'It felt cruel, like a moment for the haters to say, 'See? That's what you get.'' Genetic testing later revealed that while Angie was a carrier of cystic fibrosis, Michael wasn't, confirming there were no genetic risks to pregnancy. Soon after, Angie discovered she was carrying again, and in May 2020, their son Eric was born. I realised we were hurting people but I was so full of gusto and enthusiasm, I didn't want to give Michael up Angie Pen Angie says: 'He was perfect. We were smitten.' But just 14 months later, in July 2021, and after a long-term battle with drug addiction, Michael tragically died of an overdose, leaving Angie heartbroken. She is now trying to build a life without her soulmate. She says: 'I'll always tell Eric, who is now five, about his dad. 'Just last month, for the first time, Eric suddenly said to me, 'Daddy is your cousin', so I took out a Beatrix Potter book in which Benjamin Bunny marries his cousin. 'I'd bought it when I was pregnant, ready for the day Eric would start asking questions as I always wanted to be honest with him. 'We read the book together and he was fine. If he has more questions, of course I'll answer them.' Angie is now admin of a Facebook group for cousins in relationships and is continuing to petition to change the law. She adds: 'Love is love and should be celebrated. 'I loved Michael deeply and am grateful for the time we had together. 'People try to make out that our relationship was wrong and dirty, but it was pure and wonderful. I have no regrets.'
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps
A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court's temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the court to overturn a temporary restraining order issued July 12 by Judge Maame E. Frimpong, arguing it hindered their enforcement of immigration law. Immigrant advocacy groups filed suit last month accusing President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. The lawsuit included three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens as plaintiffs. In her order, Frimpong said there was a 'mountain of evidence' that federal immigration enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. She wrote the government cannot use factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone's occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion to detain someone. The appeals court panel agreed and questioned the government's need to oppose an order preventing them from violating the constitution. 'If, as Defendants suggest, they are not conducting stops that lack reasonable suspicion, they can hardly claim to be irreparably harmed by an injunction aimed at preventing a subset of stops not supported by reasonable suspicion,' the judges wrote. A hearing for a preliminary injunction, which would be a more substantial court order as the lawsuit proceeds, is scheduled for September. The Los Angeles region has been a battleground with the Trump administration over its aggressive immigration strategy that spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guards and Marines for several weeks. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status to be in the U.S. from Home Depots, car washes, bus stops, and farms, many who have lived in the country for decades. Among the plaintiffs is Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a video taken by a friend June 13 being seized by federal agents as he yells, 'I was born here in the states, East LA bro!' They want to 'send us back to a world where a U.S. citizen ... can be grabbed, slammed against a fence and have his phone and ID taken from him just because he was working at a tow yard in a Latino neighborhood,' American Civil Liberties Union attorney Mohammad Tajsar told the court Monday. The federal government argued that it hadn't been given enough time to collect and present evidence in the lawsuit, given that it was filed shortly before the July 4 holiday and a hearing was held the following week. 'It's a very serious thing to say that multiple federal government agencies have a policy of violating the Constitution,' attorney Jacob Roth said. He also argued that the lower court's order was too broad, and that immigrant advocates did not present enough evidence to prove that the government had an official policy of stopping people without reasonable suspicion. He referred to the four factors of race, language, presence at a location, and occupation that were listed in the temporary restraining order, saying the court should not be able to ban the government from using them at all. He also argued that the order was unclear on what exactly is permissible under law. 'Legally, I think it's appropriate to use the factors for reasonable suspicion,' Roth said The judges sharply questioned the government over their arguments. 'No one has suggested that you cannot consider these factors at all,' Judge Jennifer Sung said. However, those factors alone only form a 'broad profile' and don't satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard to stop someone, she said. Sung, a Biden appointee, said that in an area like Los Angeles, where Latinos make up as much as half the population, those factors 'cannot possibly weed out those who have undocumented status and those who have documented legal status.' She also asked: 'What is the harm to being told not to do something that you claim you're already not doing?' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the Friday night decision a 'victory for the rule of law' and said the city will protect residents from the 'racial profiling and other illegal tactics' used by federal agents.
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
US appeals court keeps bar on Los Angeles federal immigration arrests
Aug 2 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court late on Friday affirmed a lower court's decision temporarily barring U.S. government agents from making immigration-related arrests in Los Angeles without probable cause. Rejecting the Trump administration's request to pause the lower court's order, the three-judge appeals panel ruled that the plaintiffs would likely be able to prove that federal agents had carried out arrests based on peoples' appearance, language and where they lived or worked. President Donald Trump called National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles in June in response to protests against the immigration raids, marking an extraordinary use of military force to support civilian police operations within the United States. The city of Los Angeles and other Southern California municipalities joined a lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union accusing federal agents of using unlawful police tactics such as racial profiling to meet immigration arrest quotas set by the administration. A California judge last month blocked the Trump administration from racially profiling immigrants as it seeks deportation targets and from denying immigrants' right to access to lawyers during their detention. In Friday's unsigned decision, the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit largely rejected the administration's appeal of the temporary restraining order. The judges agreed with the lower court in blocking federal officials from detaining people based solely on "apparent race or ethnicity," speaking Spanish or accented English, or being at locations such as a "bus stop, car wash, tow yard, day laborer pick up site, agricultural site, etc." The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the order a victory for the city. "The Temporary Restraining Order that has been protecting our communities from immigration agents using racial profiling and other illegal tactics when conducting their cruel and aggressive enforcement raids and sweeps will remain in place for now," she said in a statement. Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, welcomed the ruling in statement: "This decision is further confirmation that the administration's paramilitary invasion of Los Angeles violated the Constitution and caused irreparable injury across the region."
