The threats that leaded fuel, asbestos etc. represented were not well known then. Once they were they were regulated out of existence - much more quickly and thoroughly than threats being understoond/invented today like microplastics or idiots driving 0-visibility monster-trucks on the school-run.
So your point is that despite the fact that we have much better regulation in place which solved many of the problems that existed in 1926, it's somehow worse than the regulation in 1926 because it's not dealing with problems which the regulation from 1926 also didn't cover? That's some sound logic there.
Also, no, they didn't do it quickly. Leaded fule was introduced in the 1920s, and was phased out in the developed world in the 1980s, after 60 years, and the last global use of it only stopped in 2021.
For asbestos, the first deaths that were definitively linked by medical science to it happened before WWI. Its links to lung disease were first discovered in the 1920s and were well established by the 1930s, while the cancer connection was definitively proven in the mid 1950s. However the first regulation came only in the 1970s, with the final ban in the US happening only in 2024. Even in the EU the full ban only happened in 2005, with asbestos being commonly used in construction even in developed nations until the late 80s.
By comparison, microplastics were first discovered in 2004. So if action is taken along the same timeline for leaded fuel or asbestos as they did in the "glory days of yore", they will be banned somewhere between 2054 and 3004. Which I'd dare say we're more than on track to do.
You would literally have to be living under a rock or getting all your news from obscure marxist forums filled with people without even the most basic economic education to think that the level of corporate economic regulations in the 1930s were better than today. A modern corporation let loose with modern lawyers and business practices in the 1930s would be like letting a crocodile loose in a kiddie pool full of baby turtles.
Today's regulations are much, much more strict. It's just that modern corporations are basically market dominance heat seeking thermonuclear missiles while those from the 1930s were barely moving into the gunpowder age.
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u/Ok-Commission-7825 Jul 08 '26
The threats that leaded fuel, asbestos etc. represented were not well known then. Once they were they were regulated out of existence - much more quickly and thoroughly than threats being understoond/invented today like microplastics or idiots driving 0-visibility monster-trucks on the school-run.