Ever wonder why it says “unleaded” at some gas pumps? Of course, it doesn’t have toxic lead in it because the exhaust would literally poison everything we drove by. So why would they need to state this? Our orange juice doesn’t advertise that it is arsenic-free, our milk doesn’t brag that it doesn’t include cyanide. Today we shut schools down because lead is trapped in paint on walls, but just a few decades ago, we happily let Americans breathe it in freely.
For over 60 years, Americans breathed air laced with lead—a potent neurotoxin that damaged brains, lowered IQs, and harmed child development. It took half a century of scientific evidence, bitter regulatory battles, and relentless advocacy to force American companies to stop poisoning the air with leaded gasoline. From 1923, when the first leaded gasoline went on sale, to 1986, when it was finally banned for on-road vehicles, corporations like General Motors, Standard Oil, and the Ethyl Corporation fought regulations at every turn—denying science, attacking researchers, and launching lawsuits. Without government intervention and environmental regulations, Americans would likely still be breathing lead today, as industry executives repeatedly chose profits over public health while deliberately misleading the public. This timeline chronicles one of history’s most consequential environmental health battles and shows how corporate interests can delay vital protections for generations.
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Early Development and Introduction of TEL (lead) in gas
- 1921: General Motors engineer Thomas Midgley Jr. discovers that tetraethyl lead (TEL) reduces engine knock, improving performance.
- 1923: GM partners with Standard Oil (now Exxon) and DuPont to form Ethyl Gasoline Corporation. They market the product as “Ethyl,” deliberately avoiding the word “lead” despite known toxicity.
- 1924: TEL production begins, immediately causing worker deaths. At Standard Oil’s Bayway refinery, 32 workers are hospitalized and 5 die from lead poisoning, with many experiencing violent insanity before death.
- October 1924: Industry denies blame. A Standard Oil manager tells The New York Times that workers “probably went insane because they worked too hard.” Midgley stages a press demonstration washing his hands in TEL and inhaling vapors, despite having suffered lead poisoning himself.
Early Controversy and Regulation
- 1925: New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey temporarily ban leaded gasoline following worker deaths.
- May 1925: U.S. Surgeon General convenes a health conference on TEL. Public health experts like Dr. Alice Hamilton warn it’s “the greatest single question in the field of public health,” urging alternatives.
- 1926: The Public Health Service committee releases a cautious report finding “no good grounds” to prohibit leaded gasoline but warns of potential future hazards. Despite calls for continued research, no follow-up government studies are funded.
- 1926-1940s: Leaded gasoline becomes standard nationwide. The controversy subsides as public attention shifts away from the issue.
The Heyday and Emerging Evidence
- 1930s-1950s: Leaded gasoline dominates the market worldwide, becoming highly profitable for Ethyl Corporation.
- 1950s: Geochemist Clair Patterson discovers widespread lead contamination while researching Earth’s age. His work using ultra-clean techniques shows modern humans have hundreds of times more lead in their bodies than pre-industrial populations.
- 1962: GM and Standard Oil sell their stake in Ethyl Corporation, distancing themselves from potential future liabilities.
- 1965: Patterson publishes landmark research showing dramatic spikes in environmental lead since the introduction of leaded gasoline, challenging industry claims that lead exposure was “normal.”
- 1966: Senate hearings pit Patterson against Robert Kehoe (Ethyl’s scientist). Patterson states that allowing industry to investigate public health dangers is “a direct abrogation” of government responsibilities.
The Beginning of the End
- 1970: The Clean Air Act gives the newly formed EPA authority to regulate air pollutants. GM, in a notable reversal, announces support for removing lead to enable catalytic converters.
- 1972: EPA proposes requiring unleaded gasoline availability, leading to immediate industry lawsuits.
- 1973: EPA issues regulations to gradually reduce lead content in gasoline from 2-3 grams per gallon to 0.1 grams per gallon by 1986.
- 1975: New cars with catalytic converters requiring unleaded fuel enter the market. Gas stations begin installing unleaded pumps.
- 1976: U.S. Court of Appeals rules in favor of EPA in Ethyl Corp. v. EPA, allowing lead phase-down to proceed. Judge J. Skelly Wright’s influential opinion states that “awaiting certainty will often allow only for reactive, not preventive, regulation.”
- Late 1970s: Research by Herbert Needleman and others firmly links low-level lead exposure to IQ deficits and learning disabilities in children.
Phase-Out Completion and Legacy
Leaded gasoline is now banned everywhere | Gapminder
- 1980: National Academy of Sciences identifies leaded gasoline as the largest source of lead exposure for Americans.
- 1983: EPA reports that lead in gasoline dropped ~50% (1976-1983), with average blood lead levels in U.S. children dropping 37%. The health benefits exceed the costs by at least $700 million.
- 1986: Leaded gasoline for on-road vehicles is banned in the United States.
- 1990s: Developed nations follow the U.S. lead. The EU bans leaded gasoline effective January 1, 2000.
- 1996: OECD nations and World Bank call for worldwide phase-out. Studies begin linking historical lead exposure to violent crime rates with a 20-year lag.
- 2000-2010: Global efforts to eliminate leaded gasoline intensify. Industry corruption emerges as Innospec (formerly Octel, the primary TEL producer) pays bribes to officials in developing countries to delay bans.
- 2010: Innospec pleads guilty to bribery charges, paying $40 million in fines.
- 2011: UN study finds lead in fuels still causing 1.1 million premature deaths, 322 million lost IQ points, and $2.4 trillion in economic losses annually.
- July 2021: Algeria, the final country using leaded automobile gasoline, ceases distribution, officially ending the era of leaded fuel for cars globally.
Legacy and Lessons
- Leaded gasoline’s removal is credited with reducing blood lead levels in American children from 15 μg/dL in 1970 to 2 μg/dL by 2000.
- Despite elimination, lead from decades of vehicle emissions remains in soil along roadways and in urban areas, continuing to pose health risks.
- The leaded gas saga illustrates how powerful companies used misleading tactics to delay regulation of a harmful product, costing millions of lives and causing incalculable harm to public health.
- The successful global phase-out represents one of history’s most significant environmental health achievements, saving over 1.2 million lives annually and yielding trillions in economic benefits.
Sources
- “History of Lead Use in America | Clair Patterson And The Age Of The Earth” – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. https://publish.illinois.edu/clair-patterson/history-of-lead-use-in-america/
- “End Of Leaded Gasoline: World Has Stopped Using Toxic Additive” – NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1031429212/the-world-has-finally-stopped-using-leaded-gasoline-algeria-used-the-last-stockp
- “Special timeline: Leaded gasoline | Environmental history.” https://environmentalhistory.org/about/ethyl-leaded-gasoline/lead-history-timeline/
- “Ethyl leaded gasoline | Environmental history.” https://environmentalhistory.org/about/ethyl-leaded-gasoline/
- “Working with Loony Gas” – Berfrois. https://www.berfrois.com/2011/09/working-with-loony-gas/
- “EPA Takes Final Step in Phaseout of Leaded Gasoline | About EPA | US EPA.” https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/epa-takes-final-step-phaseout-leaded-gasoline.html
- “EPA Orders 90% of Lead Cut From Gasoline by Jan. 1” – Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-05-mn-12402-story.html
