ABSTRACT
The environmental impact of lead dates back to 1887 when U.S. medical authorities diagnosed lead poisoning in children and later, (1904), linked this poisoning to lead-based paint. In 1921 ThomasMidgley discovered that tetraethyl lead curbs engine knock when added to gasoline. The following year the public health service warned of the dangers of leaded gasoline. In spite of that warning, leaded gasolinewent on sale in 1923 [1] and continued to be sold in theUSAuntil the late 1990s when it was banned.
