Editorial
By Patricia Parkinson, Editorial
Board,
LEAD Action News
A very liquid edition for this LEAD
Action News. Petrol and water are on the agenda, with some good news and some
not-so-good news.
First the good news: the announcement
by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Robert Hill of the
national phase out of leaded petrol by the 1st January 2002. Not quite the
breakthrough that it was presented to be, when you know that many countries are achieving
this well ahead of Australia, including Japan (in 1980), the United States (1995), all
European Union countries (1/1/2000) and some developing countries including China
(1/1/2000).
Western Australia is to be commended for having phased out leaded petrol
as of the 1st January 2000, and Queensland for implementing the phase-out ahead
of schedule: by March 2001. Pity that the other Australian states have shown no sign of
preempting the federal ban. They are, in fact, behind the petrol companies themselves:
Shell and BP have already introduced lead replacement petrol. The story of how these
companies have prepared for the phase out makes an interesting read. Whilst we applaud
these initiatives, we need to emphasize that unleaded petrol does not mean safe petrol,
and does not resolve the problems associated with the greenhouse gas and other oil related
pollution. Take for example the current battle between BP and Greenpeace in relation to
the construction of a Northstar new offshore oil platform in the Arctic Ocean, an area
already badly affected by polar meltdown, a reminder of the hazards associated with
petrol, leaded or unleaded. (see www.greenpeaceusa.org)
As the United Nations Commission on
Human Settlement (HABITAT) endorses a resolution to "expedite action plans for the
removal of lead from gasoline and the control of other sources of lead exposure"
– we strongly recommend that you download the full "Secret History of Lead"
from the web. We preview this captivating story of greed and criminal suppression of
information in our first story. It also constitutes an excellent reminder of the dangers
of relying on industry self regulation for public health and safety.
Now for the bad news. Lead in drinking
water is one of them. In our series "government scorecards", it has been an easy
one to establish as - to our knowledge - none or perhaps one of the recommendations have
been acted upon. We publish in this issue our new fact sheet on lead in drinking water, a
not so well known source of excess lead intake for at least 600,000 Australians.
The other bad news is the decision by
the NSW EPA to discontinue funding of The LEAD Group to run the Lead Advisory Service
(NSW), from the end of November 2000. After the de-funding of its own Lead Reference
Centre last December, one could have been forgiven for thinking that the need to provide a
source of reliable and easily accessible information on lead was essential. Unfortunately,
both the NSW Health and Environment ministers seem to be of the opinion that they have
done enough on lead, and are satisfied to force the public to approach all relevant
government departments in turn for answers to their lead problems. In public service
jargon it is called "mainstreaming the lead issue". So much for a
whole-of-government approach! In a few short months, if your neighbour's contractor starts
sanding the paint off their house, you could find yourself having to call the Health Dept,
Pollution Line, the council, WorkCover, and the Dept of Fair Trading to gain even a hazy
understanding of what you can do to stop the sanding.
From the Federal Government, we have
obtained a renewal of the level of funding previously received for a guaranteed two years.
Unfortunately, it relates to a ridiculously modest allowance, to be used towards the costs
associated with the distribution of Environment Australia publications on lead and for
allowing states outside NSW access to our toll-free line.
We are pleased to report that the
South Australian Minister for Health has acknowledged our service to callers from his
state by granting a $5,000 allowance to The LEAD Group this financial year.
The problem is, without core funding
for the Lead Advisory Service, it will be very difficult to continue the service as we
know it. But we are resilient, and we are spending a lot of time and energy trying to
secure alternative funding. In that endeavour, we need all the support we can get!
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