LEADED GASOLINE, THE SILENT KILLER
GM SOLVED ENGINE KNOCKING, BUT SICKENED ITS OWN STAFF — AND LIKELY MILLIONS OF CHILDREN
Back in the automobile’s early days, engineers had a problem. They were designing better engines, but the gasoline available didn’t have sufficient octane, and engine knock was a serious problem. They had to find a solution. Unfortunately, the one they chose caused serious health issues that wouldn’t be resolved for several decades.
Eager to s ol ve t he knock problem, General Motors asked Thomas Midgley, a researcher at the company’s Delco subsidiary, to find an appropriate gasoline additive. It had to be inexpensive, readily available in large enough quantities and, possibly most importantly, the final mixture had to be patentable. Midgley tried a number of possibilities, including grain alcohol and iodine, but what finally fulfilled all three requirements was tetraethyl lead.
In partnership with Standard Oil, GM formed Ethyl Gasoline Corp. to make and sell the stuff. The first tank of it was ceremoniously filled at a station in Ohio in 1923, but Thomas Midgley wasn’t there for the event. He was sick with lead poisoning. He survived, but two of his co- workers died of it shortly afterward. Over the next year, as many as 15 workers at the lead additive plant died, and 40 more fell ill.
Those horrific numbers prompted the U. S. Surgeon General to appoint a task force to find out what was going on with this new type of fuel. The committee was given seven months to provide the report. Even though the task force members said it wasn’t enough time to properly conduct toxicology tests, they delivered the final report on deadline. The verdict was that they couldn’t find grounds for banning leaded fuel. Instead, they only recommended that it be regulated and that further testing should be done.
Of course, the use of lead in other industries wasn’t new, and its effect on health was already well documented. It had long been a component in house paint, plumbing pipes, food packaging and cosmetics at that point. But when it was added to fuel, lead became ubiquitous: blown into the air as vehicle exhaust, settling onto the ground, and washing into the water supply when it spilled or when storage tanks leaked. A study done in the 1940s found that blood lead levels had risen sharply when compared to a report done in 1900, before leaded gas was invented. Those living closer to highways were more likely to have higher levels in their bodies than those who lived farther away. And overall, the levels were especially high in young children, where lead can delay neurological development.
But the Surgeon General’s office obviously wasn’t listening. In 1958, it issued a statement saying that blood lead levels hadn’t changed in the prior 10 years, even though the amount of fuel sold had risen considerably.
Based on that conclusion, the office also allowed refiners to increase the acceptable level of lead in gasoline. Surely just the most cynical would have noted that — perhaps coincidentally? — the three largest American automakers made some of their engines more powerful in the 1958 models by increasing their com- pression, which can also make them more susceptible to engine knock with lower-octane fuel.
Ultimately it was government regulations that got rid of lead, although it happened in a roundabout way. Smog was becoming a serious problem in several cities, especially in Los Angeles, where the sky was usually brown instead of blue. Because of it, the United States government passed the Clean Air Act in 1963, and in 1970, it formed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Three years later, the EPA announced that lead was a serious public health issue, and requested regulations to reduce its concentration in gasoline over the next five years. These were immediately stalled when oil companies filed lawsuits against the proposals.
But there was no getting around the EPA’s other demands, which insisted on a reduction in tailpipe emissions. The automakers came up with several possible solutions, but the one that worked best was the catalytic converter. And not only were these converters expensive, but lead damaged them. Once cars had to have them, gasoline had to get the lead out.
American regulations set in place in 1986 reduced fuel lead content by 90 per cent, and the additive was banned at the pump entirely by 1996. Canada phased out leaded gasoline for consumers in 1990, but when race drivers objected, a controversial amendment was included that permitted its use in race cars up until 2010.
The ban made a considerable difference. A 2008 study suggested that some 250,000 American children had elevated levels of lead in their blood, compared to a similar study in 1978 that estimated the number at 13.5 million. It was all good news, but ultimately, it was the health of an expensive vehicle component, not that of people, that brought an end to leaded gasoline.
LEVELS WERE HIGH IN YOUNG CHILDREN, WHERE LEAD CAN DELAY NEUROLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT.