Not remotely surprising. I've thought of it a lot. Just think about the effects of it, sitting in traffic for hrs every day commuting?
There are probably other chemicals doing just as much harm in current exhaust fumes. Cancer?
Most gas stations stopped selling leaded gasoline in the 1980's.
I remember when they initially offered "low lead" gasoline but the introduction of catalytic converters is really what began
the eventual phaseout...and cars that did not have cats began to use lead substitute additives to protect the valve seals in the cylinder
heads of the older engines, and to prevent knocking.
Lead destroys catalytic converters.
Fact is, as any of these older engines reach the point where they need to have cylinder head work done, or need an overhaul or rebuild,
the replacement valve seats used are modern hardened seats, which makes the need for lead unnecessary anyway.
And again, lead substitutes like
Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl, ethanol, ferrocene or ethyl tert-butyl ether are available as anti-knock agents.
The only remaining engines that still require the use of lead as an additive are a very few farm implement engines, a very few marine engines and
a very few racing engines.
And all of those are being phased out now, too.
No ON-ROAD vehicles are allowed to use leaded gasoline, and that's been the law for quite some time.
