Thomas Midgley Jr.: Accidentally The Most Dangerous Man Who Ever Lived

Published July 9, 2015
Updated February 5, 2018

How To Poison Children

Exposure to lead is especially harmful to children because a.) they’re more likely than adults to ingest it, b.) it’s more likely to pass into a child’s bloodstream than an adult’s, and c.) it has profound effects on neurological development that last a lifetime. And thanks to Midgley’s work, hundreds of millions of cars spent the next 50 years belching out a torrent of lead-heavy exhaust all over the world.

The tragedy about leaded gasoline is that everybody knew it was toxic, but the important players–including Midgley himself–were all making money, so nothing was done to curb lead’s destruction for half a century.

Said Midgley in 1923, just before he went to Florida to convalesce: “After about a year’s work in organic lead, I find that my lungs have been affected and that it is necessary to drop all work and get a large supply of fresh air.”

Developed countries gradually phased out leaded gasoline through the 1970s and 1980s, with final bans taking effect in the 1990s.

 

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author
Richard Stockton
author
Richard Stockton is a freelance science and technology writer from Sacramento, California.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.