
Clair Patterson: scientist and campaigner against lead poisoning (2017) - vezycash
http://mentalfloss.com/article/94569/clair-patterson-scientist-who-determined-age-earth-and-then-saved-it
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lenticular
The dual of this story is Thomas Midgely, who not only introduced tetraethyl
lead into gasoline, but also invented CFCs. Later, after developing paraylsis
due to polio, he invented a system of pulleys that could raise and lower
himself to his bed. This lead to his asphyxiation.

He was fully aware of the dangers of TEL, having had to spend a few months
recuperating from lead poisoning after working with it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr).

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saagarjha
To be fair, I don't think he knew that CFCs were bad for the ozone layer.

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Pristina
Great guy. Lead reduction probably resulted in a general increase of +5 IQ.
Which is HUGE when it's applied to a whole generation all over the world.

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SideburnsOfDoom
> Lead reduction probably resulted in a general increase of +5 IQ

I assume that this doesn't apply to the older generations alive today, so at
what point do we reap the benefits of that across the political leadership?

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lenticular
We already have reaped the benefit with crime. There's very good evidence that
phasing out of TEL was a major factor in the drop in crime starting in the
1990's. At that time, people who had been exposed to lead began to age out of
crime.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis#...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis#Research_on_lead%E2%80%93crime_correlation)

Lead has an especially bad effect on executive function and impulse control,
so I wouldn't be suprised if it had an effect on the behavior of voters in the
aggregate and even politicians.

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J-dawg
I was surprised recently to learn that general aviation aircraft still use
leaded fuel. I wonder how much lead we are all still exposed to because of
this? Is there some technical reason why it can't be removed?

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zkms
If you think leaded avgas is bad (it is), wait until you learn about lead-
based stabilizer compounds in PVC (which is used in electrical cables and
pipes/hoses, among other things). Those compounds aren't even chemically
bonded with the actual PVC molecules, so the lead eagerly leaches out. Also
there's lead in brass keys and in brass faucets (yes, even the ones marked
"lead free", when it comes to potable water piping/fixtures, "lead free"
actually means "0.25% lead").

AFAIK there's no regulation in US that will force reformulation with lead-free
compounds (which do exist), the best the US has is California's Prop 65, which
provides a bunch of useless labels which people are trained to ignore. What a
disaster.

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nate_meurer
> _when it comes to potable water piping /fixtures, "lead free" actually means
> "0.25% lead"_

It's a fucking farce that _any_ lead is _ever_ allowed to be purposely added
to plumbing materials labeled "lead free". However, nowadays most such labeled
materials actually are lead-free. All the big brass suppliers -- Concast,
Chase, Viega, Mueller, others -- produce actual lead-free brass and bronze,
with no more than trace and incidental amounts of lead.

> _AFAIK there 's no regulation in US that will force reformulation with lead-
> free compounds_

Correct, nothing nation-wide, although companies that sell stuff to the EU
often make RoHS/REACH compliant lead-free products for all markets, simply as
a matter of efficiency.

You're also right, Prop 65 is a great example of smart and necessary idea that
was crafted into a useless law. Labels without any actual market restrictions
are an invitation to gaming by manufacturers, and apathy by consumers.

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yesenadam
Working link to download Patterson's 1956 paper _Age of meteorites and the
Earth_ PDF:

[http://booksdl.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1016%2F0016-7037%28...](http://booksdl.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1016%2F0016-7037%2856%2990036-9)

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s_dev
Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Cosmos had a very good episode dedicated to him fighting
the establishment.

Zircons were the key afaik and comparing them to deep sea lead percentages.
Zircons are little crystals that keep things locked up and make for a useful
record thats useful for investigating envoirnmental anomalies like this.

The theory of how lead poisoing lead to the fall of Rome is also interesting.

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Boulth
I've seen this episode and can confirm it's excellent (as well as the rest of
the series that will resume in March 2019).

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lazyant
I think he's featured in "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill
Bryson, so certainly not "never heard of"

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lolptdr
Bryson's book is a great read. Definitely weaves some of the monotonous
details into a compelling story. I highly suggest people read this book if
they like the highlights of natural and modern history and science.

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oska
> “I’m a little child,” Patterson would say. “You know the emperor’s new
> clothes? I can see the naked emperor, just because I’m a little child-minded
> person. I’m not smart. I mean, good scientists are like that. They have the
> minds of children, to see through all this façade.”

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Swizec
I remember watching a Netflix documentary about him once upon a time. Truly
amazing

Makes me wonder how many of these stories are happening right now that few
know about.

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katuskoti
The documentary "Merchants of Doubt" covers a few of these cases, all
comparing them ultimately to climate change from CO2 pollution, and the oil
industry's fervorous cover ups.

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Gibbon1
The scary thing is in the US most people over 40 probably have impaired
executive function and impulse control due to childhood exposure to lead.

Just in case anyone is confused why Trump is president and 2/3 of congress and
the senate are utterly off their nut.

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tomhoward
Probably only a little bit true.

The extent to which one is affected depends on their ability to produce
metallothionein [1], which is genetic/epigenetic.

Most people have sufficient metallothionein expression to detoxify low-level
environmental lead from their bodies.

For people who do have non-lethal lead toxicity, the effects are a
dulling/deadening of the personality - reduced creativity, sociability,
cognitive agility.

Say what you like about Trump, but dull doesn't really fit.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallothionein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallothionein)

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Gibbon1
> Say what you like about Trump, but dull doesn't really fit.

I'm not actually talking about him, just pouting out that if widespread
problems with executive function and impulse control resulted in a tripping of
the murder rate 1960-1990, stands to reason there would be knock off politic
effects as well. You have a voting public that makes bad political decisions.

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Stratoscope
Don't let the clickbait title turn you off, this is a really interesting
article (and I'm only a quarter of the way through it).

