[RahulNagaraj]

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has announced that leaded petrol has officially been phased out from every country across the world. Algeria, which was the last country on earth to use the toxic leaded fuel, has finally phased it out.

Leaded petrol was first developed by GM, back in 1921. Considered a breakthrough at the time, the addition of tetraethyl lead in petrol was used to power cars, motorcycles and planes as it reduced the engine knock on the vehicles.



However, the exhaust from the engines using leaded petrol was highly toxic, causing lots of health implications, including heart disease, cancer and stroke. Studies also suggest that the exhaust gases from engines running on leaded petrol affected the brain development in children, reducing their IQ by 5 - 10 points.

UNEP stated that now after running a 20-year-long campaign, the fuel has finally been phased out from all countries in the world. According to UNEP, the ban on leaded petrol saves 1.2 million lives and reduces $2.4 trillion dollars' worth of healthcare expenses across the world.

Countries stated phasing-out leaded fuel, from as early as the 70s. However, many developing countries continued its use well into the early 2000s. India started phasing out the leaded petrol in the mid-1990s, completely replacing it with unleaded petrol by the early-2000s.

Over the past couple of decades, more and more countries announced the discontinuation of leaded petrol. In 2020, Algeria became the last country to phase out leaded petrol, completing the worldwide ban.

Source: UNEP

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[Sandy Damodaran]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Leaded petrol was first developed by GM, back in 1921. Considered a breakthrough at the time, the addition of tetraethyl lead in petrol was used to power cars, motorcycles and planes as it reduced the engine knock on the vehicles.

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Leaded Petrol was invented by one Thomas Midgley Jr. In hindsight, he could be considered the one person responsible for maximum environmental damage, as he also was the inventor of CFC's for AC's

There was also this murky behavior by GM, akin to big tobacco to hide all the issues of CFC and leaded gasoline. GM of course did it by using Th Ethyl Corp as a front for its activites.