It wasn't just the lead in the fuel which made it bad- it was more it's chemical form
Tetra-ethyl Lead. In it's pure form TEL is deadly toxic to touch or inhale, and it's chemical make-up is such that animal tissue absorbs it almost instantly
![Frown :( :(](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png)
Once it went back into the ground, nature broke it down and removed most of it's toxicity save for the lead itself which was in the ground to start with. Now we have MTBE in our fuel which nature cannot break down, and it's already in all of our aquifers deep on the ground where it will remain toxic forever. That stuff reduces reproductive fertility, causes cancer, gets into the plants we eat, and in higher concentrations can alter DNA
Lead, like asbestos, isn't as bad as most folks think. It's damage was mostly to those who were exposed to high concentrations of it without protective measures in place over long periods of time who were harmed by it. The effect on the average person was so minimally proven that it would not be accepted as proof for other scientific purposes. It is only that we knew it was bad for us overall and that we had ways of mitigating it that got people so paranoid about it
![Whistling :whistle: :whistle:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f617.png)
Lead is still being spewed in the air by piston-powered airplanes. It's in your phone and computer. It's in batteries and most of the metals all around you. It's in most of the older municipal water supplies. In all the hundreds of years we used it without caution it didn't harm the human race so don't worry about it- just be careful with it and enjoy the benefits it brings us
Lead poisoning from rotating cylindrical objects coming toward you at high velocities is a whole different story and the most deadly of all forms of lead poisoning
Phil