"Clair C. Patterson... fought giant industries, governmental agencies, and even other scientists until lead was eliminated from gasoline and food containers... Stimulating medical research on lead and learning ability he helped convince public heath and government officials that even low level, ambient lead pollution poisons people. Above all, he spear-headed the ban on tetraethyl lead in gasoline, one of the few industrial pollutants to be eliminated from the United States."
-Sharon McGrayne, Prometheans in the Lab
Patterson dedicated decades of his life to the removal of tetraethyl lead from gasoline. As a result, the government passed the Clean Air Act of 1970, and all leaded gasoline sales ended in the United States in 1986. Lead was also removed from consumer products. Lead levels in the blood of Americans dropped almost immediately by 80 percent.
Unfortunately, lead lasts forever, so an average American today has about 625 times more lead in his system than people did 100 years ago. However, it is impossible to predict the damage that would have occured if not for the persistent dedication of Clair Patterson.
Unfortunately, lead lasts forever, so an average American today has about 625 times more lead in his system than people did 100 years ago. However, it is impossible to predict the damage that would have occured if not for the persistent dedication of Clair Patterson.
"Clair Patterson died in 1995. He didn't win a Nobel Prize for his work. Geologists never do. Nor, more puzzlingly, did he gain any fame or even much attention from half a century of consistent and increasingly selfless achievement. A good case could be made that he was the most influential geologist of the twentieth century. Yet who has ever heard of Clair Patterson?"
-Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything