Summary
A new study estimates that childhood exposure to leaded gasoline caused 151 million excess mental health disorders in the U.S. from 1940 to 2015.
Generations, especially those born between 1966 and 1986, experienced higher rates of anxiety, depression, and impulsivity, with Generation X most affected.
The research builds on prior studies linking lead exposure to cognitive and behavioral harm, underscoring the lasting impact of environmental toxins.
Though lead was banned from gasoline in 1996, it persists in paint, water lines, and soil.
I guess you could run lab experiments to see if mice in a plastic free environment live longer and happier than ones chewing plastic things all day long. At least, that should reveal any acute symptoms. Who knows what happens after decades of exposure. Studying those types of questions is very difficult, but in recent years there have been more and more studies indicating potential carcinogenic effects in various chemicals.
As far as I now, humans have been exposed to wood particles for thousands of years, and they could have similar effects as far as the physical particles are concerned. Obviously they leach off very different compounds, so that part of the net effect won’t be comparable at all. If the presence of tiny particles in the bloodsream or elsewhere in the body is harmful, we would probably already know about it. What if the effect could also be so subtle, that you won’t notice anything out of the ordinary in a society where people rarely live past their 40s.