
Harvard study challenges assumptions about airborne lead pollution - chmaynard
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/05/harvard-study-challenges-assumptions-on-natural-lead-levels/
======
ksenzee
Mental Floss did a fascinating profile recently on the scientist primarily
responsible for getting lead out of gasoline. He was trying to figure the age
of the earth, but lead contamination kept getting in the way. Eventually he
figured out how much lead in the air was coming from gasoline, and started
making waves. Society owes him a debt:

> In the 1970s, lead in the atmosphere peaked to historic highs. It has since
> cratered to medieval levels. [...] A 2002 study in Environmental Health
> Perspectives found that, by the late 1990s, the IQ of the average
> preschooler had risen five points.

[http://mentalfloss.com/article/94569/clair-patterson-
scienti...](http://mentalfloss.com/article/94569/clair-patterson-scientist-
who-determined-age-earth-and-then-saved-it)

~~~
novia
On the other side of the coin, Thomas Midgley, the inventor of leaded
gasoline, also invented CFCs.

------
chmaynard
The history of the DuPont-GM partnership and their promotion of tetraethyl
lead in gasoline is well documented:

[https://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-
lead/](https://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead/)

Despite the many great achievements of their employees, DuPont and the family
that controlled it were truly merchants of death.

