Cars, portable telephones, televisions, VCRs and personal computers, all conceived to save or to pass time, actually appropriate time. The number of Americans suffering from stress has doubled. According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. consumes almost half of all tranquilizers sold on the planet. In Brazil, Volkswagen and Ford produce cars with emission controls for export to the U.S. and Europe. Likewise, Argentina refines lead-free gasoline for export and poison for domestic use.
Cars are free to cough up gobs of lead.
From the car's point of view, lead increases octane and profits. From the human's point of view, lead damages the brain and the nervous system. Cars, masters of the cities, don't listen to the importunate. In June of 1989, Santiago, Chile rivaled Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the world title of biggest polluter. Chile's newly-elected government imposed a few light measures on the 800 tons of noxious gas that becomes part of the city's air each day.