5 ms·

Clair Patterson: scientist and campaigner against lead poisoning (2017)

94 points by vezycash 8y ago

Swizec 8y ago
I remember watching a Netflix documentary about him once upon a time. Truly amazing Makes me wonder how many of these stories are happening right now that few know about.
- katuskoti 8y ago
  The documentary "Merchants of Doubt" covers a few of these cases, all comparing them ultimately to climate change from CO2 pollution, and the oil industry's fervorous cover ups.
Stratoscope 8y ago
Don't let the clickbait title turn you off, this is a really interesting article (and I'm only a quarter of the way through it).
lenticular 8y ago
The dual of this story is Thomas Midgely, who not only introduced tetraethyl lead into gasoline, but also invented CFCs. Later, after developing paraylsis due to polio, he invented a system of pulleys that could raise and lower himself to his bed. This lead to his asphyxiation. He was fully aware of the dangers of TEL, having had to spend a few months recuperating from lead poisoning after working with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.
- OpenBSD-supreme 8y ago
  What a good man and great inventor! All hail Thomas!
- saagarjha 8y ago
  To be fair, I don't think he knew that CFCs were bad for the ozone layer.
lazyant 8y ago
I think he's featured in "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, so certainly not "never heard of"
- lolptdr 8y ago
  Bryson's book is a great read. Definitely weaves some of the monotonous details into a compelling story. I highly suggest people read this book if they like the highlights of natural and modern history and science.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
yesenadam 8y ago
Working link to download Patterson's 1956 paper Age of meteorites and the Earth PDF: http://booksdl.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1016%2F0016-7037%2856%2990036-9 http://booksdl.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1016%2F0016-7037%28...
Gibbon1 8y ago
The scary thing is in the US most people over 40 probably have impaired executive function and impulse control due to childhood exposure to lead. Just in case anyone is confused why Trump is president and 2/3 of congress and the senate are utterly off their nut.
- tomhoward 8y ago
  Probably only a little bit true. The extent to which one is affected depends on their ability to produce metallothionein [1], which is genetic/epigenetic. Most people have sufficient metallothionein expression to detoxify low-level environmental lead from their bodies. For people who do have non-lethal lead toxicity, the effects are a dulling/deadening of the personality - reduced creativity, sociability, cognitive agility. Say what you like about Trump, but dull doesn't really fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallothionein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallothionein
  - Gibbon1 8y ago
    > Say what you like about Trump, but dull doesn't really fit. I'm not actually talking about him, just pouting out that if widespread problems with executive function and impulse control resulted in a tripping of the murder rate 1960-1990, stands to reason there would be knock off politic effects as well. You have a voting public that makes bad political decisions.
Pristina 8y ago
Great guy. Lead reduction probably resulted in a general increase of +5 IQ. Which is HUGE when it's applied to a whole generation all over the world.
- SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago
  > Lead reduction probably resulted in a general increase of +5 IQ I assume that this doesn't apply to the older generations alive today, so at what point do we reap the benefits of that across the political leadership?
  - neffy 8y ago
    Well... as of a few weeks ago when the teenagers started handing out lectures about dealing with climate change.
  - lenticular 8y ago
    We already have reaped the benefit with crime. There's very good evidence that phasing out of TEL was a major factor in the drop in crime starting in the 1990's. At that time, people who had been exposed to lead began to age out of crime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis#Research_on_lead%E2%80%93crime_correlation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis#... Lead has an especially bad effect on executive function and impulse control, so I wouldn't be suprised if it had an effect on the behavior of voters in the aggregate and even politicians.
J-dawg 8y ago
I was surprised recently to learn that general aviation aircraft still use leaded fuel. I wonder how much lead we are all still exposed to because of this? Is there some technical reason why it can't be removed?
- sxates 8y ago
  I also did not know this, so went digging. Looks like it's just small prop aircraft that still use leaded gas, even though most of them would run with unleaded just fine. How crazy! Relevant Article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lead-in-aviation-fuel/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lead-in-aviation-...
  - justtopost 8y ago
    Only newer engines can run unleaded. Most AV motors are made in the legacy style and have unhardened valve seats, requiring TEL in AVgas. Overhaul to mill the heads to install hardened seats would run 8k to over 100k depending on the craft. FAA only regulates when accidents happen it seems, so perhaps reframe the problem. FAA regs requiring proven engines and disincentivising things like fuel injection, electronic ignition, and other staples of ICE efficiency and reliability. We are effectively stuck in the 1950s in small aircraft ownership as a direct result. Considering the advancements, its a bit insane not to at least allow new tech, much less disincentivise it.
    - xkcd-sucks 8y ago
      Another alternative would be coming up with some organometallic that replicates the properties of TEL, the transition metal(s) of which are something that's not lead. Or mercury, uranium, cadmium, and a few others that are really easy to avoid. Materials chemistry has gotten lots better over the past hundred years, the meaningful development costs are only in validation testing. The FAA "should" be able to cover that cost instead of individual pilots converting their engines.
- johnr2 8y ago
  >Is there some technical reason why it can't be removed? One reason is that alternative octane boosters can cause icing in carburetors and fuel injection systems, resulting in engines cutting out at low temperatures. Improvements in combustion chamber design have helped reduce the reliance on high octane fuel, so I expect the situation will gradually improve.
s_dev 8y ago
Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Cosmos had a very good episode dedicated to him fighting the establishment. Zircons were the key afaik and comparing them to deep sea lead percentages. Zircons are little crystals that keep things locked up and make for a useful record thats useful for investigating envoirnmental anomalies like this. The theory of how lead poisoing lead to the fall of Rome is also interesting.
- Boulth 8y ago
  I've seen this episode and can confirm it's excellent (as well as the rest of the series that will resume in March 2019).
oska 8y ago
> “I’m a little child,” Patterson would say. “You know the emperor’s new clothes? I can see the naked emperor, just because I’m a little child-minded person. I’m not smart. I mean, good scientists are like that. They have the minds of children, to see through all this façade.”

94 points by vezycash 8y ago

I remember watching a Netflix documentary about him once upon a time. Truly amazing Makes me wonder how many of these stories are happening right now that few know about.

katuskoti 8y ago
The documentary "Merchants of Doubt" covers a few of these cases, all comparing them ultimately to climate change from CO2 pollution, and the oil industry's fervorous cover ups.

Stratoscope 8y ago

Don't let the clickbait title turn you off, this is a really interesting article (and I'm only a quarter of the way through it).

lenticular 8y ago

The dual of this story is Thomas Midgely, who not only introduced tetraethyl lead into gasoline, but also invented CFCs. Later, after developing paraylsis due to polio, he invented a system of pulleys that could raise and lower himself to his bed. This lead to his asphyxiation. He was fully aware of the dangers of TEL, having had to spend a few months recuperating from lead poisoning after working with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

OpenBSD-supreme 8y ago
What a good man and great inventor! All hail Thomas!
saagarjha 8y ago
To be fair, I don't think he knew that CFCs were bad for the ozone layer.

lazyant 8y ago

I think he's featured in "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, so certainly not "never heard of"

lolptdr 8y ago
Bryson's book is a great read. Definitely weaves some of the monotonous details into a compelling story. I highly suggest people read this book if they like the highlights of natural and modern history and science.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

yesenadam 8y ago

Working link to download Patterson's 1956 paper Age of meteorites and the Earth PDF: http://booksdl.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1016%2F0016-7037%2856%2990036-9 http://booksdl.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1016%2F0016-7037%28...

Gibbon1 8y ago

The scary thing is in the US most people over 40 probably have impaired executive function and impulse control due to childhood exposure to lead. Just in case anyone is confused why Trump is president and 2/3 of congress and the senate are utterly off their nut.

tomhoward 8y ago
Probably only a little bit true. The extent to which one is affected depends on their ability to produce metallothionein [1], which is genetic/epigenetic. Most people have sufficient metallothionein expression to detoxify low-level environmental lead from their bodies. For people who do have non-lethal lead toxicity, the effects are a dulling/deadening of the personality - reduced creativity, sociability, cognitive agility. Say what you like about Trump, but dull doesn't really fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallothionein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallothionein
- Gibbon1 8y ago
  > Say what you like about Trump, but dull doesn't really fit. I'm not actually talking about him, just pouting out that if widespread problems with executive function and impulse control resulted in a tripping of the murder rate 1960-1990, stands to reason there would be knock off politic effects as well. You have a voting public that makes bad political decisions.

Pristina 8y ago

Great guy. Lead reduction probably resulted in a general increase of +5 IQ. Which is HUGE when it's applied to a whole generation all over the world.

SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago
> Lead reduction probably resulted in a general increase of +5 IQ I assume that this doesn't apply to the older generations alive today, so at what point do we reap the benefits of that across the political leadership?
- neffy 8y ago
  Well... as of a few weeks ago when the teenagers started handing out lectures about dealing with climate change.
- lenticular 8y ago
  We already have reaped the benefit with crime. There's very good evidence that phasing out of TEL was a major factor in the drop in crime starting in the 1990's. At that time, people who had been exposed to lead began to age out of crime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis#Research_on_lead%E2%80%93crime_correlation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis#... Lead has an especially bad effect on executive function and impulse control, so I wouldn't be suprised if it had an effect on the behavior of voters in the aggregate and even politicians.

J-dawg 8y ago

I was surprised recently to learn that general aviation aircraft still use leaded fuel. I wonder how much lead we are all still exposed to because of this? Is there some technical reason why it can't be removed?

sxates 8y ago
I also did not know this, so went digging. Looks like it's just small prop aircraft that still use leaded gas, even though most of them would run with unleaded just fine. How crazy! Relevant Article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lead-in-aviation-fuel/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lead-in-aviation-...
- justtopost 8y ago
  Only newer engines can run unleaded. Most AV motors are made in the legacy style and have unhardened valve seats, requiring TEL in AVgas. Overhaul to mill the heads to install hardened seats would run 8k to over 100k depending on the craft. FAA only regulates when accidents happen it seems, so perhaps reframe the problem. FAA regs requiring proven engines and disincentivising things like fuel injection, electronic ignition, and other staples of ICE efficiency and reliability. We are effectively stuck in the 1950s in small aircraft ownership as a direct result. Considering the advancements, its a bit insane not to at least allow new tech, much less disincentivise it.
  - xkcd-sucks 8y ago
    Another alternative would be coming up with some organometallic that replicates the properties of TEL, the transition metal(s) of which are something that's not lead. Or mercury, uranium, cadmium, and a few others that are really easy to avoid. Materials chemistry has gotten lots better over the past hundred years, the meaningful development costs are only in validation testing. The FAA "should" be able to cover that cost instead of individual pilots converting their engines.
johnr2 8y ago
>Is there some technical reason why it can't be removed? One reason is that alternative octane boosters can cause icing in carburetors and fuel injection systems, resulting in engines cutting out at low temperatures. Improvements in combustion chamber design have helped reduce the reliance on high octane fuel, so I expect the situation will gradually improve.

s_dev 8y ago

Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Cosmos had a very good episode dedicated to him fighting the establishment. Zircons were the key afaik and comparing them to deep sea lead percentages. Zircons are little crystals that keep things locked up and make for a useful record thats useful for investigating envoirnmental anomalies like this. The theory of how lead poisoing lead to the fall of Rome is also interesting.

Boulth 8y ago
I've seen this episode and can confirm it's excellent (as well as the rest of the series that will resume in March 2019).

oska 8y ago

> “I’m a little child,” Patterson would say. “You know the emperor’s new clothes? I can see the naked emperor, just because I’m a little child-minded person. I’m not smart. I mean, good scientists are like that. They have the minds of children, to see through all this façade.”