To his great credit, Patterson never wavered. Eventually his efforts led to the introduction of the Clean Air Act of 1970 and finally to the removal from sale of all leaded petrol in the United States in 1986. Almost immediately lead levels in the blood of Americans fell by 80 per cent. But because lead is for ever, Americans alive today each have about 625 times more lead in their blood than people did a century ago. The amount of lead in the atmosphere also continues to grow, quite legally, by about a hundred thousand tonnes a year, mostly from mining, smelting and industrial activities. The
...more
