VIOLENT CRIME,

HYPERACTIVITY
AND METAL IMBALANCE
A review of Neil Ward’s work by Nicholas Kollerstrom
Abstract
Do violent criminals have a distinctive profile of their body metal burden? Such a
thesis was advocated by Professor Derek Bryce-Smith in 1974, who hypothesised
that criminals, where the crime involved loss of self-control, had a similarity in this
respect with the condition known as ‘hyperactivity.’ Evidence in support of this thesis
has come from a survey by Dr Neil I. Ward (1995, University of Surrey School of
Biomedical and Molecular Sciences), whereby multi-element hair and blood analyses
of incarcerated criminals were compared with a matched control group of ‘normals’.
Ward and colleagues have used a similar methodology for a British group of ADHD
(‘hyperactive’) children, published in 2002. The Bryce-Smith thesis was primarily
focused upon lead toxicity, whereas Ward has assayed eleven metals. Also, the
enhanced accuracy of assay procedures mean that reliable measures of toxic
metals, especially cadmium, and essential trace elements have, within the last
decade or so, become available for the first time. Options for displaying such multi-
element data-sets, from blood, hair and from urine, are here considered. While
methods of chelation-therapy for remedying such imbalances are outside the scope
of this article, these results indicate a beneficial use of chemistry for decreasing
crime, curing criminals and promoting social well-being, which now appears as a
quite practical proposition.

Foreword
A hypothesis first proposed in 1974 by Professor Derek Bryce-Smith in a discussion of
hyperactivity and criminality reached its still-ignored conclusion that ‘… offenders of this
type would be better treated with penicillamine than prison’1. Upon being awarded the John
Jeyes Lectureship, Bryce-Smith developed this thesis in an address to the Royal Society of
Chemistry in 1986: as to why society should be so loath to adopt a more ‘humane approach’ of
tackling the biochemical imbalances that predispose to crime. It was suggested that this could
be because it ‘blurs the sharp distinction which Society finds it convenient to draw between
illness and wickedness.’2 His view was that ‘…few appear to perceive any inconsistency
between the assumption of non-chemical causation on the one hand, and the widespread
adoption of chemical remedies or palliatives on the other.’ Such ideas were based upon
decades of research in the field of lead toxicity, but it is now possible to test this thesis in a
larger context, spanning eleven metals. The charity ‘Foresight’, which was founded in 1978
and dedicated to pre-conceptual care, has long emphasised that these are vitally important
matters for mothers-to-be3.

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Violent Crime, Hyperactivity & Metal Imbalance Review Nicholas Kollerstrom

Lead and toxic metal measurements

Population lead levels have plummeted during the last twenty years, as lead has been
removed from pipes, paint and petrol. Does that mean that lead is now in the clear? Perhaps
surprisingly, both UK and US surveys conducted during the 1990s indicate that a negative
gradient endures in correlation between body lead levels and I.Q., right through general
population levels, with no evidence yet appearing of a threshold4. The issue had erupted into
public debate around 1979-81, when the assaying problem over measuring blood lead around
the ‘normal’ levels of 0.1-0.2 parts per million in serum was in some ways just as severe as the
evaluation of whether such levels could be toxic5. Nowadays, European Union mandates
specify toxic thresholds in parts per billion, because in the last decade or so measurement at
these levels has become reliable. The percentage differences we will here examine, especially
for cadmium, require confidence that measurements can be reliably made to the order of ten
parts per billion. It is a cause for optimism, if assay procedures have finally reached the levels
required for estimating maximal tolerable body levels for the toxic metals.
Present-day imbalances derive from two different kinds of causes:
1. toxic metal environmental pollution (if one may include aluminium from cooking
utensils6 and cadmium from cigarette smoke7 in this broad category)
2. depletion of arable topsoils from modern agricultural practices, resulting in food
lacking in essential micronutrients8.
If we indeed have a generation of ‘toxic metal kids’ roaming the streets, then our society
needs greater awareness of the effect which metal imbalances can exert, in predisposing
towards violence and lack of self-control. The chemistry departments of Reading (Derek
Bryce-Smith) and Surrey (Neil Ward) Universities have provided, it will here be argued, a key
whose significance needs to be more widely appreciated, whereby the science of chemistry
may come to be more associated with human well-being. Dr William Walsh, addressing the
Well Mind Association (US) in 1991, remarked: ‘The answer to crime prevention is not in
bigger prisons and more stringent penalties but in identifying children and intervening
biochemically before their lives are ruined9.’ The UK has of late achieved Europe’s highest
rate of citizen incarceration10, and if the study of body-metal imbalances can, even to a small
extent, remedy this situation, it is worth investigating.

The Researches of Neil Ward

Dr Neil Ward successfully gained permission to obtain hair and blood samples from a group
of 68 incarcerated young criminals (males, aged 16-19 years), and compared them with a
group of controls matched for age, sex and geographical location11. Hair samples provide a
‘diary’ of long-term exposure and tend more to show whole-body accumulation of toxins12,
whereas blood samples tell a more transient story concerning recent absorption of nutrients
before they have been stored or excreted. Within that criminal group, there were 28 whose
crime involved violence, and they will here be called VYCs (violent young criminals). Ward
assessed eleven metals per sample, using an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer.
Hair sample analyses showed mean values for lead and aluminium in that sub-group elevated
by a factor of about four, while the cadmium levels were doubled. No less remarkable were
the deficits displayed in certain essential trace metals (such as chromium, selenium and zinc)
in the hair samples:13 two of these, zinc and chromium, were reduced by just as large a factor,
as the ‘toxic’ metals were raised. Each of these six group-differences was significant at over 1
in 1000 (with the student’s t-test giving values of >10). Merely comparing these six metal

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Violent Crime, Hyperactivity & Metal Imbalance Review Nicholas Kollerstrom

Table 1: Hair sample analyses, dry weight (Ward 1995) mg/kg or ppm

Metal Normal Violent Young Criminals

(VYCs)
Aluminium 1.8 ± 0.7 13 ± 6
Lead 2.7 ± 0.4 8.6 ± 2
Cadmium 0.11 ± 0.04 0.27 ± 0.11

Chromium 0.9 ± 0.3 0.23 ± 0.2

Selenium 1.8 ± 0.7 0.3 ± 0.2
Zinc 167 ± 42 137 ± 27

means for VYC versus controls would enable the separating out of these two groups more or
less completely.
To what extent were these results replicable in blood samples taken from the same group?
Figure 1 displays both the blood and the hair analysis results, expressed as % excesses or
deficits14. It shows how the magnitude of the blood-group differences were on average smaller
than those from the hair samples; and that 8 of the 11 different elements had the hair and
blood level excess/deficit in the same direction. This graph summarises over two thousand
elemental values,15 of both the control and criminal group. Presentation of the data as excess
or deficiency trends maybe seen as being more meaningful than the mere statistical values.

Figure 1: Element means of 28 violent young criminals (n=28) compared to those for a control group age and
sex-matched (n=68), using both hair and blood samples, for: aluminium, lead, cadmium, manganese, copper,
magnesium, copper, magnesium calcium, zinc, iron, selenium and chromium.

Hyperactivity
Ward also reported remarkably similar ‘metal-profiles’ for children diagnosed with
‘Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’ (ADHD), using a survey of over 500 such children
from Oxfordshire: significantly lower chromium, iron, selenium and zinc, with raised
cadmium, aluminium and lead. These are the same metals raised and lowered that were
earlier found in the pilot study on violent criminals16.

Table 2 shows the results, using the same six elements given in Table 1.

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Violent Crime, Hyperactivity & Metal Imbalance Review Nicholas Kollerstrom

Table 2: Hair sample analyses, dry weight (Ward 2002) mg/kg or ppm

Metal Normal (n=436) Hyperactive (n=1238)

Aluminium 2.2 ± 1.4 8.3 ± 2.4
Lead 2.7 ± 1.3 6.7 ± 3.1
Cadmium 0.3 ± 0.15 1.8 ± 1.2

Chromium 0.72 ± 0.18 0.38 ± 0.12

Selenium 0.78 ± 0.17 0.38 ± 0.12
Zinc 141 ± 35 94 ± 31

In this study it was possible to sample hair, blood and urine from these hyperactive attention-
deficit children, and Figure 2 shows the breakdown of results. This time all three samples
were in the same direction for every one of his eleven metals, and it may be that this merely
reflects the larger sample size.

Figure 2: As for figure 1, but sampling urine

(n=687), hair (n=1238) and blood (n=518),
from a group of ADHD children, comparing
with smaller control groups, respectively 198,
436 and 178

Further Studies
An earlier and somewhat comparable study by Ward and Bryce-Smith looked at birth-weight
and head circumference of 79 newly-born live infants around Merseyside17 18. They found that
levels of iron, chromium, cobalt, calcium, zinc and copper all correlated positively, while lead
and cadmium were negatively correlated with these two parameters. Aluminium and mercury
showed no correlation. The level of cobalt - which does not appear to have relevance for crime
and hyperactivity - was here affecting both body weight and head size at birth. It was found
that cigarette-smoking was directly associated with cadmium levels (other smoking-
associated toxins, e.g. nicotine or carbon monoxide, being non-elemental)19. Ward and Bryce-
Smith followed this up with a study of 42 stillborn foetuses from South Wales20, which
confirmed the well-documented antagonistic relation between raised levels of lead and
cadmium, and lowered levels of zinc.
More recently, Ward has investigated a small group of hyperactive ‘problem’ children (n=32)
in Roca, Argentina21. He reported fairly comparable results using just hair samples, except
that some of the population-means were rather different: both the control and the
hyperactive groups had elevated aluminium levels, and there was hardly any zinc deficit
amongst the hyperactive group, whereas they had on average doubled mercury-levels.
One study has found elevated levels of manganese in violent prisoners compared to non-
violent22. That may well be so, but it is here being argued that a more integrated view which
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places the different ‘likely suspects’ together in a multi-element analysis is necessary if this
modern problem is to be resolved.

Data Presentation
For an initial inspection, there may be a case for combining the percentage excesses (of hair,
blood and urine) to give an overall indication of body burden (Figs 3 and 4). One could add
other elements (such as lithium, vanadium, arsenic and mercury) but it may be preferable not
to have too many to start with. For reaching
busy social workers and doctors, concerned
with promoting well-being and diminishing
the number of violent-crime re-offenders,
some such guidelines in graphical presentation
may help. If Figures 1 and 2 each summarise
over two thousand measurements, then
optimal presentation of the data is worthy of
serious consideration.
These comparisons group together essential
elements - such as copper and zinc, which are
Figure 3: As for Fig 1, but averaging hair homeostatically regulated by the body’s
and blood sample ratios together biochemistry and which therefore have well-
defined ‘normal’ ranges - with toxic metals,
such as cadmium or lead that are not subject to such, so their ‘normal’ range merely reflects
the ambient pollution. It excludes mercury, which Neil Ward found (somewhat surprisingly)
to be ‘in the clear’ i.e. not
showing any toxic effects in these
groups: its toxicity has long been
associated with ‘mad hatter’
symptoms, so this is in itself
rather remarkable. It also
excludes arsenic, even though in
many parts of the world this is an
important water-borne toxin,
because it is not easy to measure
by most modern analytical
instruments. Figure 3 shows the
averages of the blood and hair
groups given in Figure 123.
Figure 4 As for figure 2, but averaging the mean
hair, blood and urine sample ratios per metal.
A Partial Replication
A group of 20 imprisoned offenders were compared with the same number of soldiers living
in barracks, using multi-element analysis of blood samples, by ex-policeman Peter Bennett in
his M. Phil. dissertation at Exeter University in 200224. This work does not test the hypothesis
here formulated concerning violent criminals, hyperactivity and metal imbalances, nor has it
been published in any journal, but it is the nearest thing to a replication of Ward’s study that
exists.
Bennett found that all 20 prisoners had high lead and aluminium, and high ratios of lead to
iron, and 18 had a high ratio of aluminium to zinc. Nine had a high cadmium to zinc ratio.
From a test and questionnaire the prisoners showed high scores of irritability, short temper,

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poor concentration, aggression, hyperactivity, depression and migraine. Bennett’s work

emphasises the synergistic manner in which elements work, e.g. cadmium becomes less
harmful if adequate zinc levels exist, and it focuses more on the individual cases of imbalance
and treatment. At a ‘Food and Mood’ Conference, Bennett (as director of the Restorative
Health Company (www.rehealth.com)) presented some blood/hair analyses of criminals25: he
cited high levels of cadmium and lead found in two mass murderers26. For one disturbed
youth repeatedly criminally convicted, the blood analysis showed he was deficient in calcium,
chromium, manganese and selenium, while high in aluminium, cadmium and lead.
The London-based ‘Biolab’ performs hair-sample analyses for the public27 and it kindly
provided the author with the hair element-means used to assess samples treated. For the six
elements cited in Tables 1 and 2 these are in parts per million (or, mg/kg): aluminium 2.3,
lead 4.3, cadmium 0.17, chromium 0.69 and selenium 1.9. These agree with the above-cited
means, which is encouraging and indicates a concordance in the hair-washing and cleaning
protocols prior to the analysis (For comparison, another hair-analysis clinic consulted was
using far higher aluminium and cadmium mean hair levels: the former being widely present
in dust and the latter in cigarette smoke).

Discussion
For today’s ‘Ritalin generation28’ these results are vitally important, showing comparable
‘metal profiles’ for one single batch of VYCs and a larger sample of hyperactives. The main
difference was that the criminal group had a larger excess of lead and aluminium than was
found within the ADHD children. Reports in this area often comprise statistical comments
upon whether results are ‘significant’ but without citing the raw data; here, a different
approach has been advocated. The evidence here presented supports the action taken by the
charity ‘Natural Justice’29 by way of dietary adjustment to incarcerated criminals, one
component of which involved supplements containing selenium and zinc (at Aylesbury Young
Offenders Institute, Bucks). A significant decrease in antisocial behaviour was found to
result30.
The Home Office has not approved of such investigations being performed in British prisons,
and the governors generally refuse. Home Office officials need to understand that no blame
or guilt inheres in the fact that a major cause of violent crime derives from biochemical
imbalances that can readily be treated and cured. It took a while for a scientific consensus to
be reached, that levels well below one part per million could possibly exert such an effect. It is
OK for politicians to move slowly while scientists are making up their minds: the results need
to be well-established before they can or should be translated into legislation. The EU has, for
example, made removal of cadmium from batteries a priority, but without alluding to its
presence in cola drinks and cigarette smoke. If replicated, the results here described could
indicate that there are no other factors, social or environmental, which predispose to
criminality more than the influence of these several metals. Therefore, there would be only a
limited value in social reform programs for violent criminals, unless these metal levels were
also addressed and corrected.

It has been argued that ‘violent adults have only one thing in common, poor childrearing.’31
No doubt, this approach is vitally important. But, the above results tend to suggest that a
remedy for the problem will not be found within it, unless pertinent biochemical imbalances
are also taken into account. Tackling crime, Bernard Gesch concluded, must ‘involve getting
tough on the causes of antisocial behaviour, i.e. getting tough on nutrition.’32

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About the Author

Nicholas Kollerstrom PhD wrote the book 'Lead on the Brain: a plain Guide to Britain's No. 1
Pollutant' back in 1984, and this article shows just how much the subject has developed
since then. He used to live in Guildford, and thereby came to take an interest in Prof Neil
Ward's work at Surrey University's chemistry department. Currently Nicholas is a member of
staff at University College London, in the Science & Technology studies department, where he
works as a science historian.

References

1. D.Bryce-Smith and H.Waldron,‘Lead, Behaviour and Criminality’,The Ecologist1974,4,347-358,353

2. Derek Bryce-smith, ‘Environmental Chemical Influences on Behaviour and mentation’, (John Jaynes Lecture)
Chemical Society Review, 1986, 15, 93-123, 114
3. Foresight, The Association for the Promotion of Pre-conceptual Care, Hydestile, Godalming, Surrey
4. R.Canfield, ‘Intellectual Impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 g per decilitre’ New
England Journal of Medicine 2003, 348, 1517-1526 (this issue also contained two other reviews of lead toxicity).
Lead Exposure and Child Development, Ed M. Smith et. al., Kluwer 1989 cited several several lead vs IQ surveys
which found in blood lead a comparable gradient of IQ decrease, about 5 IQ points per 20 units (micrograms per
decilitre) with no evident ‘safety threshold’: S.Pocock et al Ch. 3.1 found a 10-point IQ difference between high
and low tooth lead groups; S.R.Schroeder Ch. 3.2; see also M.Fulton et. al., ‘Influence of blood lead on the ability
and attainment of children in Edinburgh’ Lancet 1987, 1221-6
5. N.Kollerstrom, Lead on the Brain, a plain guide to Britain’s number one pollutant, Wildwood 1983
6. D.L.Watts, Trace elements and other essential nutrients 1995, 2003, Texas, p.162
7. www.cadmium.org/env_exp.html
8. Mayer, A B. ‘Historical Changes in the Mineral Content of Fruit and Vegetables’. British Food Journal 99/6
(1997) 207-211; Bergener P. The Healing Power of Minerals, Special Nutrients and Trace Elements. Rocklin, CA:
Prima Publishing, 1997
9. Quoted by Peter Bennett at the ‘Healthy Prison’ conference, U of Liverpool, 1996
10. R. Walmsley, World Prison Population List (fourth edition), 2003, Home Office UK: U.K has 0.127% of its
population incarcerated
11. N. Ward, ‘Heavy Metal status of Incarcerated Young Offenders and Control Individuals,’10th Conference on
Heavy Metals in the Environment, Hamburg Symposium 1995, 277-280; CEP Consultants, Edinburgh, 1996
12. Watts, Trace elements, p.3
13. Bergener, Healing Power: Ch 7, ‘Chromium’, Ch.20, ‘Selenium.’
14. Calculated by 100(Hc-Hm)/Hm and 100(Bc-Bm)/Bm where Hc is the hair element-mean for the criminal group, Hm is
the ‘control’ mean and Bc and Bm are the corresponding blood element-levels
15. (28+68)x11x2: 11 elements, sampling hair and blood, from 28 VYCs and 68 controls
16. Neil Ward, ‘The potential role of trace elements in child hyperkinetic disorders’, in: Food Allergy and Intolerance,
2nd Ed. Ed. J.Brostoff and S.Challacombe, Saunders 2002, Ch. 52, Tables 52.3, 4 & 5
17. N.Ward, R.Watson & D. Bryce-smith, Placental element-levels in relation to fetal development for obstetrically
‘normal’ births’ Int. Jnl of Biosocial Research 1987 9(1) 63-81
18. N.Ward et. al., ‘Elemental Factors in Human Fetal Development’ Journal of Nutritional Medicine 1990, 1, 19-
26,23
19. Ward & Watson ref (17), p.76, ‘Smoking and Cadmium.’
20. N.Ward & D.Bryce-Smith, ‘Lead, cadmium and zinc levels in relation to fetal devlopment and abnormalities’
Heavy Metals & the Environment 2 Toronto Sept 1993 Eds Allan & J. Nriagu, 280-284
21. Ward, N. et. al., (2004) Community-based research projects: A new educational link experience for academia and
industry in Rio Negro, Argentina. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 5(1), 50-59
22. Gottschalk at al. ‘Abnormalities in trace elements as indicators of aberrant behavior’. Comprehensive Psychiatry,
1991,342:229-37

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23. Each bar on the graph represents 100x{(Hc-Hn)/Hn +(Bc-Bn)/Bn}/2 where H and B are hair and blood
concentrations, Hn being the ‘control’ mean and Hc the mean of the criminal group
24. MPhil by Peter Bennett at Exeter University 2002 ‘Nutritional Health & Behaviour of Prisoners & Military
Trainees.’
25. Peter Bennett ‘Nutritional approaches to behaviour and criminality,’ Food and Mood conference, 18 Sept 2002
London
26. See also, R.W.Hall, ‘A Study of a Mass Murderer: Evidence of Underlying Cadmium and Lead Poisoning and
Brain Involved Immunoreactivity’ Int. Jnl. Biosoc. & Med. Res. 1989 II 144-152
27. www.biolab.co.uk/
28. Ritalin is a trade name of a treatment for diagnosed ADHD that is essentially a drug called methylphenidate,
chemically similar to cocaine
29. Bernard Gesch, ‘Natural Justice: A pilot study in evaluating and responding to criminal behaviour as an
environmental phenomenon: the South Cumbria Alternative Sentencing options project’ Int. J. Biosocial Med.
Research 1990, 12, 41-68
30. Bernard Gesch et. al., ‘Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial
behaviour of young adult prisoners: randomized, placebo-controlled trial,’ British Journal of Psychiatry, 2002,
181, 22-28
31. Allan Mohl, ‘Survival Variables in an age of Mass Destruction’, The Journal of Psychohistory, 32, Winter 2005,
247-267, 247
32. At the UK’s Associated Parliamentary Food and Health Forum 21.1.2003, Section 37:
www.fhf.org.uk/meetings/2003-01-21_minutes.pdf

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