CNN —Facing a crowd of journalists, inventor Thomas Midgley Jr. poured a lead additive over his hands and then proceeded to inhale its fumes for about a minute. Unfazed, he said, “I could do this every day without getting any health problems whatsoever.”Soon afterward, Midgley needed medical treatment. The task of addressing the issue of engine knocking fell to Midgley while he was working at General Motors in 1916. An estimated 1 million people a year still die from lead poisoning, according to the World Health Organization. The toxicity of lead was already well-known when Midgley added it to gas, but that didn’t stop Ethyl from becoming a commercial success.

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Persons: Thomas Midgley Jr, “, ”, Midgley, —, Ford, Gerald Markowitz, Colin Creitz, Charles Kettering, ” Markowitz, ” Midgley, Bill Kovarik, Midgley —, Kettering —, Freon, Joe Sohm, CFCs, Perkin, Priestley, Kettering, Willard Gibbs, Carl E, ” Kovarik, Markowitz, I’m Organizations: CNN, General Motors, City University of New, GM, Standard Oil, DuPont, Network, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Radford University, America, Montreal Protocol, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Befrienders, Society of Chemical Industry, American Chemical Society, National Academy of Sciences, TNT, Linde Locations: Beaver Falls , Pennsylvania, United States, City University of New York, Algeria, American, Dayton , Ohio, Virginia, Montreal, Chicago