|
|
"GREEN
LEAD" – OXYMORON OR FUTURE VISION?
Elizabeth O’Briena, Cornelia Dostb,
Bei Quc
a Manager, b,c Interns,
Global
Lead Advice & Support Service (GLASS)
run by The LEAD Group Incorporated
Conference Paper Presented by Elizabeth O’Brien at
the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA)
Conference on Sustainable Development in the Product Stewardship Session:
Tue 1st Nov 2005, 11am-1pm, Alice Springs
Contents
Introduction
Leaded Petrol Ban
Batteries
E-equipment
Facts of lead poisoning worldwide
Corporate work/International action
Global Lead Advice & Support
Service (GLASS)
References
You take
the lead out of the earth,
you throw the corpses in,
one crop is as good as another
as long as the cash keeps pouring in,
the wheels must never stop turning,
the machine must be obeyed,
the future has got to be fuelled
and there’s a price to be paid.
(adapted
from Who reaps the profit? Who pays the price? Rosselson, 1981)
I’m here to talk about the price. There’s a lot
of lead out there
(Figure 1)
(NRC, 1993)
"Since ancient times,
lead has brought us great benefits but also innumerable poisonings, particularly amongst
workers and children" (UNEP, 2002), said Executive Director Klaus Toepfer
of the United Nations Environment Programme.
The authors of
this paper have tried to analyze both sides of the question in the title of this speech
– "green lead" as an oxymoron as well as a future vision. Therefore
different sources were used that should make the difficulty, but also challenge, of this
paper’s question, clearer.
Jamie Lincoln
Kitman contends that: "The makers of leaded gasoline systematically suppressed
information about the severe health hazards of their product for decades, even though they
knew from the mid-1920s on that leaded gasoline was a public health menace" (Fenton
Communications, 2000).
According to US
experience the phase out of leaded petrol is essential in reducing the rates of lead
poisoning among children. Especially in developing countries using leaded petrol combined
with factors such as high population density near roads, poor-quality automobiles, high
rates of iron deficiency due to poor diet, hot climates and dusty conditions contributes
to a dangerous level of lead exposure. Many studies have already established that the
phasing out of leaded petrol leads to an improvement in the blood lead level of
inhabitants especially among children who are more likely to be affected (e.g. Bangkok,
Mexico City) (Falk, 2003).
Accordingly, a
lot of international health agencies, national governments and several main donor
organizations started to concentrate on the phasing out of leaded petrol, arguably the
most dispersive form of lead. The global phase-out will be the first great environmental
health policy success story when it is achieved but no industry group is pushing for that
to happen earlier than 2010 – which will be 38 years after the process began in the
US. Due to an immense lack of product stewardship the following countries still have to
phase out leaded petrol and need help with environmental as well as health related
regulations. And still the question remains who of the countries that already made the
contribution to a cleaner environment by phasing out of leaded petrol is exporting their
mined lead to make the lead additive for petrol in other countries? Is Australia one of
them since it is the biggest exporter of lead worldwide?
(Figure 2,
Phillips , 2005 and poem by Midgley, ~1926)
continued
Contents
Introduction
Leaded Petrol Ban
Batteries
E-equipment
Facts of lead poisoning worldwide
Corporate work/International action
Global Lead Advice & Support
Service (GLASS)
References |
