5 Things That Were Normal in the 1950s That Georgia and Federal Law Now Restrict

Ask your grandparents about life in the 1950s, and you’ll hear things that sound unthinkable now.

Georgia and federal law have since drawn lines around some of them.

Here’s what was once routine, and how the law handles it today.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Laws and penalties are subject to change.

1. Cigarette Commercials on TV

Cigarette commercials were a staple of American television for more than twenty years, until 1971.

In 1955, 54 percent of U.S. men and 24 percent of U.S. women smoked cigarettes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

But now if you watch your local news, no cigarette commercial can legally run in the ad break.

Cigarette commercials on TV fall under federal law, which makes it unlawful to advertise cigarettes and little cigars on any medium of electronic communication under the Federal Communications Commission’s jurisdiction.

The University of Alabama’s Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society says tobacco companies were major sponsors of popular programs on every national network by the 1950s.

Those ads are gone.

2. Lead House Paint

A significant amount of the white house paint sold and used before 1955 was 50 percent lead, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

In 1955, manufacturers adopted a voluntary limit of 1 percent lead in house paint.

But house paint with higher lead levels continued to be manufactured.

Federal law lowered the limit to 1 percent in 1971 and to 0.06 percent in 1977.

If you’re picking out paint for your walls, federal regulation 16 C.F.R. part 1303 classifies consumer paint with 0.009 percent or more lead by weight as a banned hazardous product.

3. DDT Insecticide

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says there’s no U.S. registration for the insecticide DDT, meaning it can’t legally be sold or distributed in the United States.

So a pound of DDT isn’t something you can legally buy.

Under federal law, no one in any state may distribute or sell a pesticide that isn’t registered, except as that law provides.

The peak year for DDT use in the United States was 1959, with nearly 80 million pounds applied to crops.

DDT, available since 1943, was a primary weapon against malaria, the CDC says.

By 1971, use had fallen to about 13 million pounds, most of it applied to cotton.

In June 1972, thirteen years after that peak, the agency issued an order cancelling nearly all remaining federal registrations of DDT products.

Not every use ended, though.

Exceptions covered public health, quarantine, and a few minor crop uses.

4. Leaded Gasoline

Lead in gasoline was normal in the 1950s.

It had gone into gasoline since the early 1920s, primarily to boost octane levels.

A 1985 EPA Journal article estimates the U.S. industry average for the 1950s and 1960s was about 2.4 grams of lead per gallon.

In 1973, the average lead content was 2 to 3 grams per gallon, or about 200,000 tons of lead a year.

In 1985, more than 40 percent of gas sales were still leaded.

By 1995, leaded fuel made up only 0.6 percent of total gasoline sales.

The drop came fast.

Effective January 1, 1996, the Clean Air Act banned the sale of the small amount of leaded fuel still available for on-road vehicles.

Federal law makes it unlawful, after December 31, 1995, to sell gasoline that contains lead for use as fuel in any motor vehicle.

If you fill up at a gas station today, federal law bars the seller from putting leaded gasoline in your car.

The ban on leaded gasoline covers on-road vehicles only.

The EPA said in 1996 that fuel containing lead may continue to be sold for off-road uses, including aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines.

The majority of aircraft that operate on leaded fuel are piston-engine aircraft.

In October 2023, the agency made a final determination on lead emissions from certain aircraft engines.

It found they cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare.

If you fly on a commercial jet, the aircraft doesn’t operate on a fuel containing lead.

5. Optional Seat Belts

Seat belts were a $9 option on Ford's 1956 models, but most customers were indifferent to their safety benefits.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says all new passenger cars had some form of seat belts beginning with lap belts in 1964.

Shoulder belts followed in 1968, and integrated lap and shoulder belts in 1974.

Georgia enacted its seat belt law in 1988.

The Peach State now requires you to wear a seat belt in the front seat of a passenger vehicle on a public road.

If you skip it, Georgia can fine you no more than $15.

You can be fined no more than $25 if a minor age 8 or older in your car isn't wearing a belt.