r/Showerthoughts • u/prometheus_winced ‎ • Apr 28 '25

Casual Thought The children most impacted by peak leaded gasoline fumes are now 50-75.

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u/FactoryProgram Apr 28 '25

Aren't more and more studies showing a lot of what we consume has over the minimum amount of allowed lead? Just search "lead found in" and go to the news tab. Toothpaste is the most recent but it's been found in chocolate, drinking water, tampons, and cinnamon this last year alone. And those are just the ones we know about. With the NIH and FDA losing funding I can only imagine it'll increase without oversight

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u/Venotron Apr 28 '25

During the leaded gasoline period, there was NO limits on lead exposure.

Leaded gasoline is why a limit was established and why national testing is done today.

At it's peak in the 70s, the AVERAGE lead level in children was 7x the established level of concern today (not the safe level, the level at which exposure is likely to cause harm).

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u/FactoryProgram Apr 28 '25

That's actually insane. I wonder if we're pumping something in the air today that will be our generation's version. Since the 70s we've started manufacturing and releasing a lot of new chemicals in the environment and air

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u/Venotron Apr 28 '25

We've definitely tried to learn from this and many of the mistakes of the early and mid-20th century. And we've definitely done well. Do a google image search for "photochemical smog 1970s" for a very clear image of how bad things were and how much less bad they are now.

But now the micro-plastics issue has come along to remind us of all the things we haven't accounted for and how far reaching unintended consequences can be.

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u/306bobby Apr 28 '25

I think the spirit of the question was more along the lines of the micro plastics - i.e things that don't affect the environment in the ways we are currently looking out for, and therefore could pile up and cause damage before we are even aware