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Sixty years since the report of global lead pollution

The 1963 discovery that even the vast oceans were highly contaminated with lead from car exhausts sparked debate and policy changes that benefited the health of millions — and revolutionized the practices of marine biogeochemistry.
  1. Jerome Nriagu

    1. Jerome Nriagu is professor emeritus at the School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.

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In the early 1960s, the observation of a high concentration of lead in the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean off southern California sparked debate. Was it from a previously unknown geological source, or was it symptomatic of environmental contamination in the entire Northern Hemisphere, caused by emissions of lead compounds from industrial sources and car exhausts1,2? And if it was a symptom of worldwide contamination, then what were the risks to human health, especially in urban areas? The geochemical puzzle was solved in 1963 by Tatsumoto and Patterson3, who reported in Nature that the oceans were being highly polluted with lead produced from the use of leaded petrol. The paper did not receive the acclaim that it deserved at the time, but it became a milestone in the public-health controversy surrounding the use of leaded petrol4.

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Nature 619, 704-706 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02196-2

References

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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