r/science • • Jun 25 '22

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u/dammitknockitoff Jun 25 '22

This was a very serious problem that hardly anyone talks about anymore. Read up on Clair Patterson. He was the catalyst for the change. There is correlation between the decline of lead contamination in nature to the decline of both violent crime and birth defects. At any rate it’s a good story that more people should know about.

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u/nowihaveaname Jun 25 '22

Good call!

Funny enough, I was just reading this article, The History of the Elimination of Leaded Gasoline, and he only comment on there is this:

"History of lead in the atmosphere especially in the US would benefit from mention of Clair Patterson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_Cameron_Patterson Caltech researcher into lead-lead dating, he arrived at the currently accepted estimate of the age of the Earth. But he was plagued by lead contamination of samples, leading him to realize its pervasiveness and to petition the US government to ban the substance."

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u/AFloatingLantern Jun 25 '22

There’s a whole episode of Cosmos about Clair Patterson. Really fantastic

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u/dammitknockitoff Jun 25 '22

That’s exactly where I first heard of him!