New Scientist: “Exposure to lead while in the womb may double a child’s risk of developing schizophrenia later in life, new research suggests.

While larger studies are needed to confirm the link, the researchers say this is the first time an environmental toxin has been linked to the disorder.” —New Scientist The study analyzed frozen blood specimens fortuitously left by a cohort of pregnant mothers during the period before gasoline was unleaded. A robust correlation was found between lead levels and a schizophrenic outcome of the pregnancy. Many many studies establish some correlation between risk of schizophrenia and some perinatal insult. It is not that any of these specific noxious influences are the “cause” of schizophrenia; the effect is nonspecific. Some schizophrenia involves disturbed neuronal architecture in certain anatomical regions of the brain, notably the hippocampal formation. Any crucial ‘hit’ during essential developmental periods might disrupt cell migration and the development of normal connections. But schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disease (I should rather say, “the schizophrenias”) and, in some affected patients, what lies at the core is disruption of the neurochemical communication between these neurons rather than their physical connectivity. This too may result from an environmental insult, I suppose, but probably more often involves a genetically transmitted gene lesion or lesions affecting neurotransmitter or neuroreceptor function.