5 highlights
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Almost exactly 100 years after its invention, leaded petrol is no longer legally available for sale anywhere on Earth.
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In July this year, Algeria became the last country to stop selling leaded petrol.
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In 1921 a team of chemists working for US car manufacturer General Motors in Dayton, Ohio, discovered that adding a small amount of tetraethyl lead to petrol could improve engine performance. Leaded petrol was quickly commercialised and by the 1970s almost all petrol around the world contained the additive.
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However, it was soon realised that leaded petrol was linked to a host of health problems, and caused heart disease, cancers and harmed cognitive development in children.
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Recent research has shown that almost half of the lead in London’s air comes from leaded petrol used in cars several decades ago. Despite leaded petrol being banned in the UK in 1999, lead-containing dust remains in the streets and there’s still 50 times more lead in the air than would be expected naturally.