Pretty much the whole world used leaded gasoline and capitalist countries were the first to phase it out. US phased it out relatively early compared to others, Japan was afaik the first to outright ban it in 86. My ex-eastern bloc country only fully banned it in 2002.

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I recall a significant event that happened to the Eastern bloc not long after countries started banning leaded gas, could it be that the collapse of an entire political system prevented those countries from handling that?

What does the usage have to do with it? It was invented strictly for profit, and as such, leaded gas was the only thing being manufactured. Cars had to be specifically tuned to use it.