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“There
are at least 16 countries*, including Burma, Jordan and North Korea,
which have not yet phased out lead in petrol”, says Elizabeth
O’Brien, President of The LEAD Group. The LEAD Group campaigns to
eliminate lead poisoning in Australia and the rest of the world.
Ms O’Brien, who this week attends a 2-day meeting
in Beijing of the UN Partnership for Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV),
will call for a new approach to the global problem of lead in petrol.
“Since 2002, the PCFV has been assisting the
world’s petroleum industry and national governments to phase out
lead in petrol for road-use,” says Ms O’Brien. “It’s time to
put pressure directly on the UK, which permits the export of alkyl
lead for road-use petrol, and on Australia, which permits the export
of the lead to the UK which is used to make it.”
“Alkyl lead is an organic lead compound added to
the unleaded petrol to make leaded petrol. Innospec (UK) is the
world’s only producer of alkyl lead.”
Ms O’Brien said the World Health Statistics
Quarterly has declared lead In petrol to be “The Mistake Of The 20th
Century.” “In 1991, the OECD (Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development) acknowledged the phase-out of leaded
petrol as the priority global lead management issue.
“Put simply,” said Ms O’Brien, “lead in
petrol is the most potent way to lead poison the largest number of
people and to spread lead into air, dusts, soils, waterways, sediments
and the food chain. With pressure from Australia, a stroke of the pen
in the UK could rapidly bring an end to leaded petrol for road-use, so
we can start retrieving that lead from the environment and stop the
continuing poisoning of people.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates
that globally, lead poisoning accounts for 229,000 deaths from
cardio-vascular disease (CVD) per year. In China, 38.5% of children
and 31.8% of adults are estimated to have more than enough lead
exposure for an increased risk of early death by heart attack or
stroke.”
Because China has the largest number of people, in
any country, with lead poisoning, Ms O’Brien will also be meeting
with the NGO Global Village Beijing to discuss ways of tackling the
problem.
* See http://www.unep.org/pcfv/PDF/MapWorldLead-Jan2008.pdf
for the map of countries still selling leaded petrol and see http://www.lead.org.au/fs/fst27.html
for the list of countries derived from the International Fuel Quality
Center (IFQC).
Contact: Elizabeth O’Brien, The LEAD Group - (02)
9716 0132, mobile 0431 184 933
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