[5] On cars not designed to operate on leaded gasoline, lead and lead oxides coat the catalyst in catalytic converters, rendering them ineffective, and can sometimes foul spark plugs. Get alerts for new articles, or get an alert when an article is cited. But on a population basis, shifting the average IQ down even a small amount could have large consequences, said Sung Kyun Park, an associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Write an article and join a growing community of more than 163,400 academics and researchers from 4,609 institutions. Elizabeth Chuck is a reporter for NBC News who focuses on health and mental health, particularly issues that affect women and children. The news media began to criticize Standard Oil and raise concerns over Ethyl gas with articles and cartoons. [125][126], Although leaded gasoline is largely gone in North America, it has left high concentrations of lead in the soil adjacent to roads that were heavily used prior to its phaseout. Two dozen workers at a refinery in Bayway, New Jersey, came down with severe lead poisoning from a poorly designed GM process. Construction started in April 1939 and TEL was being produced by September 1940. When TEL began to be phased out, the automotive industry began specifying hardened valve seats and upgraded materials which allow for high wear resistance without requiring lead. Leaded gas was banned in 1996, but exposure to the poison cost people born before then several IQ points on average, researchers estimated. [90], The carcinogenity of tetraethyllead is debatable. [17] In 1924, Standard Oil of New Jersey (ESSO/EXXON) and General Motors created the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation to produce and market TEL. Lead in Soil | Sources of Lead | CDC Follow us on Copyright 20102023, The Conversation US, Inc. Scientists working for General Motors discovered that tetraethyl lead could greatly improve the efficiency and longevity of engines in the 1920s. [17] Needleman also wrote the average US child's blood lead level was 13.7 g/dL in 1976 and that Patterson believed that everyone was to some degree poisoned by TEL in gasoline. Surgeon General committee issued a report in 1926 that concluded there was no real evidence that the sale of TEL was hazardous to human health but urged further study.
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how much lead was in leaded gasoline