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Letter From The President:
Elizabeth O’Brien
This edition of LEAD
Action News marks the republication of the newsletter since its untimely
suspension in May 2001. Thanks to fresh funding from the Australian
Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
(DEWHA) – see disclaimer below* - we are once again able to publish
news of the ongoing battle against lead contamination.
The articles in this
edition are a timely reminder that removing lead from motor vehicle fuel
in Australia was just one victory in the campaign against the insidious
contamination of the world by lead products.
The innovative legal
protections for Rhode Island Renters at risk from lead contamination are
an encouraging new development. However, earlier this month the jury
verdict in the Rhode Island lead case was overturned on appeal, leaving
Rhode Islanders with a billion dollar bill to clean up their
contaminated housing stock. Fortunately, other state and city
authorities in the USA seem determined to press on with their paint
company litigation by arguing that the decision is not binding on their
courts.
Back home, this
country’s behaviour is called into question in the report on
Australia’s Dirty Trade in lead exports. The fact that Australian
lead is used to make leaded petrol which is sold in some 16 developing
countries, like Serbia and Burma, is a disgrace. We call on the Rudd
government to ban the export of lead from Australia to countries where
it is processed as a petrol additive for road vehicles.
In a story from
Western Australia, Monument to Birds, we read the disturbing news that
in the mining port town of Esperance, a study of the local bird
population has found lead levels to be the highest in the world.
The editor has delved
into our library and included a fascinating story on the great Spanish
painter Goya and his dangerous habit of making his own pigments from
lead ores.
I would like to thank
all those who helped republish LEAD Action News and in particular Tony
Lennon and our cartoonist Rose Lennon. I note that Rose has provided us
with a mascot (at right), for the newsletter, called ‘Red’, inspired
no doubt by the tenacity of activists in Rhode Island.
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DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the
Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for
any information or advice contained herein.
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