1900 PVC use attempted by Ivan Ostromislensky and Fritz Klatte of the German chemical company Griesheim-Elektron. Both attempted to use PVC in commercial products, but difficulties in processing the rigid, sometimes brittle polymer thwarted their efforts.
Semon, W. L., and Stahl, G. A. (1981). History of Vinyl Chloride Polymers. Journal of Macromolecular Science: Part A – Chemistry, 15(6), 1263–1278.
1904 Lead paint linked to childhood lead poisoning by Australian J. Lockhart Gibson, one of the the first to do so.
Markowitz, G. and Rosner, D. (2000). “Cater to the Children”: The Role of the Lead Industry in a Public Health Tragedy, 1900-1955. Am J Public Health. 90(1), 36–46.
1907 Bakelite, the first successful commercial synthetic plastic, synthesized by chemist Leo Baekeland (“The Father of the Plastics Industry”) in Yonkers, New York.