Hope this is the right place to post this. So lately I have researched and been quite fascinated (and a little horrified) by learning about the exposure of lead to millions of people since it's additition to gasoline in the 20's I believe all the way through the early 80's (in the US). Was nearly every child exposed to lead because of this? And maybe a historian can't answer this but wouldn't it have had lasting effects on adults even alive today? I'm surprised I don't hear more about this but maybe because it was such a terrible thing to have happened for so long. Was it as bad in other countries as in the U.S or not? Thanks
You might be interested in this discussion paper published by authors Richard G. Newell and Kristian Rogers, from the NGO Resources for the Future.
http://web.mit.edu/ckolstad/www/Newell.pdf
Although it focused in the phase-out policies and their effects, the direct discussion involving the financial costs, total pollution emmitted and key health indicators can give an idea of the extent of lead exposure. For instance, prior to the EPA introducing restriction on tetraethyl lead (1970) as a motor vehicle fuel additive, about 96% of all fuel contained the additive, at an average level of 2.3 grams per gallon. This was decreased to a meager 3% of all fuel at a concentration of 0.1 grams per gallon between 1990 and the final ban in 1996.
In particular you should look to the appendix and the conclusions sections, those would help most with answering your questions.