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Title: Toxic Truth: Lead and Fertility

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: Lead exposure is harmful to a range of human functions. Using U.S county level data on lead in air for 1978-1988 and lead in soil in the 1970s and 2000s, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of lead exposure on a critical function – fertility. To provide causal estimates of the effect of lead on fertility, we use two sets of instruments: i) the interaction of the timing of implementation of Clean Air Act regulations and the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan for the panel data and ii) the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan for the cross sectional data. We find reductions in airborne lead between 1978 and 1988 increased the general fertility rate and completed fertility and that higher lead in topsoil decreased the general fertility rate and completed fertility in both the 1970s and in the 2000s. The latter finding is particularly concerning, because it suggests that lead may continue to impair fertility today, both in the United States and in other countries that have significant amounts of lead in topsoil.

Url: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mportnyk/portnykh_leadfertility_feb2.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Clay, Karen; Portnykh, Margarita; Severnini, Edson

Publisher: Carnegie Mellon University

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Health

Countries: United States