Leaded Gas Was a Known Poison the Day It Was Invented (2016)

# Summary Lead gasoline was introduced in 1921 by General Motors engineer Thomas Midgley Jr. as an anti-knock additive, despite knowing it was highly toxic—a Du Pont executive had already described it in 1922 as "very poisonous if absorbed through the skin." GM chose tetraethyl lead (TEL) over the more effective alternative of ethanol because ethanol couldn't be patented and would have threatened oil companies' control of the fuel market. Although workers died from TEL exposure and health concerns were raised, leaded gasoline entered general sale in the 1920s after regulators concluded it posed minimal risk to consumers.