Goodbye to harmful and air-polluting leaded petrol

Concerns about the harmful effects of leaded petrol have been raised for nearly a century. — AFP

The use of leaded petrol has been eradicated from the globe.

This is a milestone that will prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths and save world economies over US$2.44 trillion (RM10.15 trillion) annually, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Aug 30 (2021).

Nearly a century after doctors first issued warnings about the toxic effects of leaded petrol, Algeria – the last country to use the fuel – exhausted its supplies last month, UNEP said.

The agency called the news a landmark win in the fight for cleaner air.

“The successful enforcement of the ban on leaded petrol is a huge milestone for global health and our environment,” said UNEP executive director Inger Andersen.

Even as recently as two decades ago, more than 100 countries around the world were still using leaded petrol, despite studies linking it to premature deaths, poor health, and soil and air pollution.

Concerns were raised as early as 1924, when dozens of workers were hospitalised and five declared dead after suffering convulsions at a refinery run by American giant Standard Oil.

The refinery had been nicknamed the “looney gas building” by staff.

Nevertheless, until the 1970s, almost all the petrol sold across the globe contained lead.

When UNEP launched its campaign in 2002, many major economic powers had already stopped using the fuel, including the United States, China and India.

But the situation in lower-income nations remained dire.

By 2016, after North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan stopped selling leaded petrol, only a handful of countries were still operating service stations providing the fuel.

Algeria finally followed Iraq and Yemen in ending its reliance on the pollutant.

UNEP said in a statement that the eradication of leaded petrol would also increase IQ points among children and decrease crime rates, aside from preventing premature deaths and saving trillions of US dollars.

The agency said the dollar figure came from a 2010 study led by scientists at California State University at Northridge in the United States.

Its chief factors were the benefits of better health for the overall economy; lower medical costs; and a dip in criminal activity -- higher crime rates have previously been linked to exposure to leaded fuel.

UNEP warned that fossil fuel use in general must still be drastically reduced to stave off the frightening effects of climate change.

Globally, vehicle sales are set to climb exponentially, particularly in emerging markets.

“The transport sector is responsible for nearly a quarter of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions and is set to grow by one-third by 2050,” UNEP said, adding that 1.2 billion new vehicles would hit the streets in the coming decades.

“This includes millions of poor quality, used vehicles exported from Europe, the US and Japan, to mid- and low-income countries.

“This contributes to planet warming and air-polluting traffic, and (is) bound to cause accidents,” the global body said.

Earlier this month, a bombshell report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that Earth’s average temperature would be 1.5°C warmer around 2030, compared to pre-industrial times.

Coming a decade earlier than projected, the rise has raised alarm bells about the use of fossil fuels. – AFP Relaxnews