How leaded gasoline was offered for 100 years, regardless of understanding its well being dangers

A 1960s Southern California gas station being restored.

Enlarge / A 1960s Southern California gasoline station being restored. (credit score: FarukUlay | Getty Photographs)

On the frosty morning of Dec. 9, 1921, in Dayton, Ohio, researchers at a Common Motors lab poured a brand new gasoline mix into one in all their take a look at engines. Instantly, the engine started operating extra quietly and placing out extra energy.

The brand new gasoline was tetraethyl lead. With huge earnings in sight—and only a few public well being laws on the time—Common Motors Co. rushed gasoline diluted with tetraethyl result in market regardless of the recognized well being dangers of lead. They named it “Ethyl” gasoline.

It has been 100 years since that pivotal day within the improvement of leaded gasoline. As a historian of media and the setting, I see this anniversary as a time to replicate on the function of public well being advocates and environmental journalists in stopping profit-driven tragedy.

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