New Chemicals killed thousands in U.S. in first half of 20th Century

Leaded Gas, Radium,cyanide, Thallium, Carbon Monoxide, denatured alcohol, etc. killed thousands of people mostly because the average person didn't know what they actually did to people. Often some of these things like Thallium, and Radium was added to things people injested before enough people understood it might kill you. So, The average person's uneducated nature along with the general ignorance of the public regarding all these new things killed thousands of people.

 Even my own father who would later be Valedictorian of his High School Class in Lake Forest Park Washington was given Morphine for 6 weeks time in the hospital and told me later the next year he had a nervous breakdown. As smart as he was he still didn't understand when he talked to me during the 1950s and 1960s that he didn't have a nervous breakdown, he had withdrawals from being given so much morphine in the hospital when they had wanted to remove his leg but his father wouldn't let him. He had been in a motorcycle accident on a Harley Davidson 74 he bought at age 14 and a German Shepard dog ran out in front of him on a gravel road which caused the motorcycle to lay down and kill the dog and his leg ground under the motorcycle into the gravel. So, in order to survive not removing his leg he had to be on morphine for 6 weeks in the hospital and he didn't realize that he was experiencing withdrawals from that much morphine. He said he never wanted to hallucinate that long ever again. But withdrawals caused him to lose a year of high school. But, he was so very persistent, in his senior year he was still Valedictorian and his leg recovered too even though it had some scars and he could out hike me even in his 60s he was so physically fit.