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by asah 1440 days ago
thx! TIL leaded gasoline was phased out in the 1970s primarily because it clogged catalytic converters needed to end smog, not because of health reasons!

(smog used to be terrible - I lived through the latter half of that period, am I can't even relate to how awful it used to be... friends and I remember walking in midtown Manhattan, blowing our noses and it being black... I can't even imagine pre-1980 let alone pre-1970... https://timeline.com/la-smog-pollution-4ca4bc0cc95d )

1 comments

> leaded gasoline was phased out in the 1970s

... In automobiles.

Lead is very much in use for aircraft fuel, just google AVGAS.

It's absolutely bonkers to me that recreational fliers can still rain toxic lead on people below.