History of leaded petrol
Figure 8: Relationship between blood lead level and crime rate (with 19-year lag) 25
Conclusion
Despite Kettering and Midgeley’s breakthroughs in anti -knock technology in the 1920s being seen as a massive leap forward in the automobile industry, the lead released into the earth and atmosphere for decades have caused irreparable damages to generations of people all around the world and would go down as one of the worst mistakes of the 20 th century. The use of TEL as an additive hampered the development of generations of children and decreased the overall intellect of humanity by a significant amount.
25 Nevin (note 23).
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