The secret, very dirty history of leaded gasoline

I often hear conservatives complaining about the regulatory role the government has taken on - how liberals exaggerate harms from industry so they can advance their secret communist agenda. Put this in your arsenal for responding to such claims:

The Secret History of Lead

It is a beautiful example of the same old Denialist Deck of Cards we’re still seeing used so effectively by the AGW “skepticism” crowd.

The article is fairly old, but I dug it after reading a very interesting book which touched on the topic:

There are a slough of other nasty examples of industry using consumers as guinea pigs, from the use of radium in consumer products, methyl mercury in freckle remover, thallium in hair remover and on and on. And conservatives of course always defending their right to go on doing so in the name of liberty.

But what’s surprising about lead in gas is how successful the oil companies have been at keeping this known neurotoxin in their products (and thus insuring its eventual release into our planet’s atmosphere), a practice that continues to this day in many places around the world. I suppose being the most profitable industry on the planet has its advantages.

Well found Vay.

It just doesn’t have the same conspirator ring that blaming the JOOS! does.

Please try harder

Yes, great find. In hindsight, it’s really quite amazing that the leaded-gasoline nonsense went on as for long as it did, especially considering there are perfectly straightforward technological workarounds.

The historical ignorance in this thread is _________.

Lead was added to gas at first get rid of engine knocking.

The US govt held sway on how gas was to be processed and how much you could charge for it. The Oil shocks of the 70’s were do to gas being unprofitable to take to the gas station. Jimmy Carter actually started the trend for deregulation because the economy was failing miserably.

Leaded gas was so much cheaper than unleaded that people use to fit special devices to be able to switch from unleaded to leaded. Since then even nastier stuff has been added to gas to get it to burn cleaner.

Once again a historically-ignorant liberal points to a policy that was based on over-regulation and decries it as a conservative plot. When in reality, congress didn’t get any more conservative till congressional votes became a matter of public record. Nixon started the EPA, btw.

I can’t figure out what your point is, Okami. As far as I can tell, you seem to be saying that oil companies added lead to petrol because the US government forced them to.

In modern engines, knocking is avoided in four ways:

  1. Lower compression ratio.
  2. Other additives. AFAIK none of them are classed as “even nastier stuff”, although experimental ones may have been. Ethanol, for instance, is pretty benign, as are its combustion products.
  3. Improved hydrocarbon blends.
  4. Knock sensors and computer controls which adjust engine timing and mixture to avoid pre-ignition.

In other words, lead is not, and never has been necessary.

[quote=“Okami”]The historical ignorance in this thread is _________.

Lead was added to gas at first get rid of engine knocking.

The US govt held sway on how gas was to be processed and how much you could charge for it. The Oil shocks of the 70’s were do to gas being unprofitable to take to the gas station. Jimmy Carter actually started the trend for deregulation because the economy was failing miserably.

Leaded gas was so much cheaper than unleaded that people use to fit special devices to be able to switch from unleaded to leaded. Since then even nastier stuff has been added to gas to get it to burn cleaner.

Once again a historically-ignorant liberal points to a policy that was based on over-regulation and decries it as a conservative plot. When in reality, congress didn’t get any more conservative till congressional votes became a matter of public record. Nixon started the EPA, btw.[/quote]

In real life, these rorts continue unabated. I tried to connect to TELSTRA (Australia’s premium telecommunication service). It took 3 months all the while the company to which I’d been previously connected and instructed very clearly to terminate the service continued to send me bills. To the point of engaging lawyers(over 62.50$); yet, there was no service. It had been cancelled.The principal provider took 3 months to connect a basic service to a suburban house. That kind of rort is rife. If it happened in Taiwan someone would be arrested – most likely not the victim. Corporate scamming is undeniable. If you cannot see it, God help you. Corporate rorts are common place, especially in Australia, but I’m sure in the US, which they use as a template. You could literally win an election in Australia on corporate malfeasance if you had the gumption and guts.

[quote=“Fox”][quote=“Okami”]The historical ignorance in this thread is _________.

Lead was added to gas at first get rid of engine knocking.

The US govt held sway on how gas was to be processed and how much you could charge for it. The Oil shocks of the 70’s were do to gas being unprofitable to take to the gas station. Jimmy Carter actually started the trend for deregulation because the economy was failing miserably.

Leaded gas was so much cheaper than unleaded that people use to fit special devices to be able to switch from unleaded to leaded. Since then even nastier stuff has been added to gas to get it to burn cleaner.

Once again a historically-ignorant liberal points to a policy that was based on over-regulation and decries it as a conservative plot. When in reality, congress didn’t get any more conservative till congressional votes became a matter of public record. Nixon started the EPA, btw.[/quote]

In real life, these rorts continue unabated. I tried to connect to TELSTRA (Australia’s premium telecommunication service). It took 3 months all the while the company to which I’d been previously connected and instructed very clearly to terminate the service continued to send me bills. To the point of engaging lawyers(over 62.50$); yet, there was no service. It had been cancelled.The principal provider took 3 months to connect a basic service to a suburban house. That kind of rort is rife. If it happened in Taiwan someone would be arrested – most likely not the victim. Corporate scamming is undeniable. If you cannot see it, God help you. Corporate rorts are common place, especially in Australia, but I’m sure in the US, which they use as a template. You could literally win an election in Australia on corporate malfeasance if you had the gumption and guts.[/quote]

Well said. In Canada it is similar with the lack of accounting ability.

I love it how when liberals get served they carry on unabated like nothing even happened. Even when the chair gets knocked out from under their feet they’ll reply to it changing the subject as if it is relevant to the subject at hand. Is it really that hard to just acknowledge things are not always like you wish to believe, and that is an OK thing to happen now and then?

It seems that people who grew up after the use of leaded gas stopped tend to vote Democrat. There may be a connection there.

I think we can see the effects of lead in gasoline around us every day. I’m not talking about you or Mucha Man but Okami must has been riding pretty close to the exhaust.

I don’t understand what you’re saying either. Apart from anything else, other countries have motor cars apart from the US, with different politics and different rules. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.

Okami, Buzzkill 1: apparently someone found it worth spending the time to comment on the OP without bothering to read the article. Why doesn’t that surprise me?

Why in God’s name would I bother with you and your ever present wish to scroll liberal talking points and ignore all inconvenient facts. You can barely string together a rational argument, much less a rational thought.

Lots of dumb shit was done in the past
More dumb shit is being done now
Even more dumb shit will happen in the future

Throw out almost any green energy idea and it looks pretty dumb. Morphine was developed and marketed as a cure for opium addiction. The FDR administration made it illegal for a farmer to grow wheat for his own personal consumption without a govt permit. What about student loans? What about the toxic housing mess which pretty much falls into the lap of liberals as they pushed the hardest for it. Pick a screwed up program and you can pretty much nail it to over-rampant govt in the US. Europe is so screwed with their govts that a whole lot of people are going to have to pay the piper a hefty price.

Now we see that leaded gas was a dumb idea, but at the time it worked and seemed rather smart. It got pulled up into govt inertia and kept going for much longer than it should have. I grew up with stories of leaded paint in houses. Lead used to be used for canning solder. People tended not to have lived as long back then for it to catch up with them.

So when you say (Enter 2-minute hate outgroup here) caused XYZ without any rational idea of the history or views at the time, don’t expect me to do much but mock you in your ignorance.

Very interesting stuff. Particularly how a lot of tests were invalid because background lead levels were already so high. There were lead smelters, white lead manufacturers, etc just spewing lead dust all over swathes of most urban areas in those days. Just stunning in 2013, but basically normal pre-1970 in the US when the dangers of dumping poisons into the air and soil were less appreciated and accepted as part of economic development. They took the prize with the widespread nature of this one though. Most countries seem to have to go through the same pain before they figure it out.

… and the inventor of leaded petrol was also responsible for CFC’s!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley,_Jr.

Sad, but as Okami also points out, ignorance allows many things to happen.

My Family had a company ,producing brakelinings in the UK.Started in the 1880’s by my Great Grandfather. The products were made from Asbestos. 1.500 Employees were issued with masks in the 1950’s to protect against the dust. NOBODY wore them as they said they looked stupid and they could not smoke !
Of course ,now, everyone would blame my Family or the Legislators. The Truth is,that we are all guilty of ignoring inherent dangers,for the sake of convenience.
It will continue ,sadly,whether people are well informed or not. Greed is terrible, Indifference is sometimes worse.

Yep, and countless times in countless ways. The quote in my sig is from a song contained here. In the 60’s and 70’s the state-approved method of dumping toxic chemicals and oils in the millions of gallons was to allow them to percolate through an unlined landfill, into a neighboring stream, a nearby river, and Lower New York Bay (3:42). The national government was well aware of it but did nothing. In the States it was the Love Canal disaster that really started the ball rolling on awareness of these issues and change.

[quote]My Family had a company ,producing brakelinings in the UK.Started in the 1880’s by my Great Grandfather. The products were made from Asbestos. 1.500 Employees were issued with masks in the 1950’s to protect against the dust. NOBODY wore them as they said they looked stupid and they could not smoke !
Of course ,now, everyone would blame my Family or the Legislators. The Truth is,that we are all guilty of ignoring inherent dangers,for the sake of convenience.
It will continue ,sadly,whether people are well informed or not. Greed is terrible, Indifference is sometimes worse.[/quote]

That’s a good point, but big tabacco, the banks, telecom companies, big oil you name it lay that argument to waste daily.

Who in there right mind can argue that tobacco didn’t know? Who in their right mind would argue banks don’t purposely exploit the elderly? Who cannot see how telecom companies exploit technological ignorance? What about insurance companies? AIG bought the world to its knees?

Actually, asbestos while dangerous is not innately cancerous in the sense that it causes chemical changes to lung tissue. It is no more cancerous than fiberglass. The cause of asbestos related cancer is the same as for cancer caused by fiberglass particles should they be friable enough to lodge in the lungs. It is the body’s reaction over time i.e., an inflammation related cancer (as far as I know). Yet, you hear little or nothing about the dangers of fiberglass and it is more ubiquitous than asbestos. I think the reason for this is it is perhaps more difficult to find someone to sue.

Yes, my thoughts and arguments do tend to be thoroughly irrational. Still, I’ll try to ramble out a semi-coherent sentence or two for your amusement.

Well, why did you bother to answer at all, then? Seems you’re just making an excuse to spout off without having read the lengthy and informative article, which pretty much destroys your position.

[quote]Lots of dumb shit was done in the past
More dumb shit is being done now
Even more dumb shit will happen in the future[/quote]

And?

Thanks for bringing up all these red herrings. They might be relevant if I was defending, as you say, “over-rampant government”. That wasn’t my stated intention, however. My point was… well you can read it above.

Sigh. Again, read the article.

I don’t think I’ve even said enough for you to assess whether I have “any rational idea of the history or views at the time”. Where are these generalizations coming from? Have you been stalking me on the AGW threads, or what? If so, speak up! I’d love to have my ignorance shown for what it is. In fact, got a new one coming tonight - see you there?