[teragram (OP)]

I recently read a couple of articles on Midgley, the inventor of leaded petrol in the early 20th century. Given that leaded petrol was still widely used until the late 20th century, is there any suggestion that increases in the number of brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases, autism, etc., not to mention other disorders including terrorist mentality may be due to the effects of lead from petrol remaining in the environment?

[chris]

Lead does persist, but it may not be the only culprit for neurological and behavioural health impacts: take a look at this article I wrote about pollution exposure during pregnancy and subsequent behavioural problems in children.

[Zer0]

I read up on Thomas Midgley, also found leaded fuel is termed as " Looney Gas ".
It had been Banned worldwide with an exception to a few handful countries.
Yes, it certainly is harmful in relation to neurotoxic effects n antisocial behaviour.
I found all this information from Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead

Considering diseases caused due to lead, I found information in this link helpful.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/

You have a Valid Point thinking the Lead still looms around the atmosphere, also its only been Banned recently n considering its effects/damage is permanent and irreversible maybe the kids most excessively affected are now grownups n can buy/steal arms & ammunition.

But overall levels of lead contamination in the population seems to be decreasing n dropping rapidly.
Although its clear no levels of lead in the blood are considered safe.
Still a lot of processes are poisoning the environment with lead, it wasn't just the loony gas as Chris has rightly stated in his post above.

OP - Does pollution from leaded petrol persist in the environment?
Answer - https://www.epa.gov/lead-air-pollution
👍

[evan_au]

It looks like EPA has been driving some real improvements in quality of life for the US population.

It's a pity that the current government sees the EPA as an impediment, and wants to increase the consumption of coal...
https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/sulfur-dioxide-trends

[teragram (OP)]

Lead does persist, but it may not be the only culprit for neurological and behavioural health impacts: take a look at this article I wrote about pollution exposure during pregnancy and subsequent behavioural problems in children.

Interesting report, seems to confirm some of my suspicions, thanks for the link. It would be interesting if the subjects of the study could be followed up at later stages of their lives, beyond childhood

[teragram (OP)]

considering its effects/damage is permanent and irreversible maybe the kids most excessively affected are now grownups n can buy/steal arms & ammunition.

....and also perhaps be more sensitive to radicalisation. Thanks for your input.

[teragram (OP)]

It looks like EPA has been driving some real improvements in quality of life for the US population.

It's a pity that the current government sees the EPA as an impediment, and wants to increase the consumption of coal...
https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/sulfur-dioxide-trends

Yes. As you probably know, the new head of the EPA has fought against its efforts in the courts on many occasions in the past, in support of polluting industries.

[puppypower]

Lead was added to gasoline to act as a catalyst; ethyl lead. This was added to make the burning of the fuel more efficient. This boost in burn efficiency led to higher octane ratings. Modern unleaded regular gas has an octane rating of about 89, while  regular lead was about 100. This was the food of muscle cars. The addition of lead helped to lower pollution caused by unburnt fuel, which contributed to smog. Smog was a serious health problem in places like Los Angeles.

What often happens is we solve one problem, but create another. Lead is a good example of this. Another more contemporary example, was the push to ban nuclear power, starting in the 1960's. This led to more dependency on fossil fuels, which then led to the Carbon crisis and global warming. If the hysterical had not led to this direction of technology, the tide of greenhouse gases would have turned 40 years ago. One has to be careful not to let hysteria and politicians lead, since the quickie political solutions often becomes other worse problems.

As far as coal, coal is a natural product of the earth. Do a Google search about "how coal is formed". It is formed by the earth without the help of man. It is green. It does not require artificial products, that are not natural to the earth, that are manufactured in a factory.  Solar panels are not of the earth. Show me a solar panel forest or solar panel mine? The buzz work green appears to be subjective and used upside down, if needed. The hysterical do not notice the irony.

If I took coal and built a camp fire with wood to start a coal fire, this is all natural, since a parallel can be found on the earth. It is not until we scale up, and start to add all the pollution stuff required by the environmentalists and the EPA, that unnatural is added. This is why we need to stand back and look at the EPA, since all government bureaucracies grow by means of inflated hype, that designed to create future problems for continued growth.

[chris]

I chanced upon another manifestation of lead in the atmosphere which I'd written up a number of years ago; specifically, scientists discovered that airborne lead is a potent trigger for cloud formation and rainfall. Our use of it in petrol may therefore have altered rainfall patterns globally.

[homebrewer]

Well, without the generous supply of "Lead-Tetraethyl" WWII would have stopped the German Airforce bombing raids well before 1940, and "Stukas" would not have had a chance to terrorize the many cities of Europe.

Lead-tetraethyl is probably not necessary for my and your car, but for Helicopter engines with high octane fuel, it is certainly a must. Can Led-tetraethyl be linked to neurological deficiencies, probably.

[Jajdj]

I Agree with You and Don't worry I am With you!!!!

[teragram (OP)]

If I took coal and built a camp fire with wood to start a coal fire, this is all natural, since a parallel can be found on the earth. It is not until we scale up, and start to add all the pollution stuff required by the environmentalists and the EPA, that unnatural is added. This is why we need to stand back and look at the EPA, since all government bureaucracies grow by means of inflated hype, that designed to create future problems for continued growth.

Tetra-ethyl-lead was not added to petrol with the aim of reducing pollution. The aim was to reduce detonation in engines, allowing higher compression ratios. True, the result was greater efficiency, resulting in lower fuel consumption.

Thomas Midgely came up with a list of alternative additives for petrol which would have been successful at reducing detonation, some of which were relatively benign. Apparently his employers, ultimately General Motors, chose TEL because at the time its addition to petrol was patentable, guaranteeing a royalty on every gallon sold. The health risks were well known at the time.
As private industry does not take responsibility for the production of pollution (as with tetra-ethyl-lead in petrol) it falls to environmentalist groups to try to convince governments of the need to control things. 
The EPA and environmentalists are not the bad guys here.

The following is interesting, courtesy of Wiki:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

[teragram (OP)]

I chanced upon another manifestation of lead in the atmosphere which I'd written up a number of years ago; specifically, scientists discovered that airborne lead is a potent trigger for cloud formation and rainfall. Our use of it in petrol may therefore have altered rainfall patterns globally.

On the other hand, has the increased cloud formation exacerbated the much heavier rainfall events now seen across the world, thus increasing the effect of climate change?
            

[homebrewer]

Is the question not, do we need muscle car, except for the ambulances, security services & police?

For the rest of us, petrol w/o lead additives should be fine.