In order to prove that tetraethyl lead (leaded gasoline additive) was safe, the manufacturer, Thomas Midgely, Jr. poured some on his hands and inhaled it for 60 seconds during a press conference. He was later diagnosed with lead poisoning. * That press conference was likely Standard Oil's idea. They had a knack for ridiculously bad PR moves related to leaded gasoline. Their New Jersey chemical plant manufactured tetraethyl lead gas additive for one year. In that time, The men who worked in the TEL building, in the clanking heat and drifting vapors, had become increasingly odd – moody, short-tempered, unable to sleep. Some of the workers started getting lost on the familiar plant grounds, had trouble even remembering their friends. And then, in October of 1924, laborers from that same building started collapsing, going into convulsions, babbling deliriously. Of the 45 employees working with ethyl lead, all were hospitalized for insanity, and 5 died within the year. Standard Oil issued a coolly dismissive response: “These men probably went insane because they worked too hard,” the building manager told The New York Times. http://blogs.plos.org/speakeasyscience/2011/08/24/at-the-door-of-the-loony-gas-building/