Sri Lanka is set to curb atmospheric lead pollution by introducing lead-free petrol for its cars
BETTER late than never, Sri Lanka's market gets lead-free petrol for the first time from this year, thanks to prolonged lobbying by environmentalists. "This was essentially a follow-up to numerous
requests made by environmentalists,"
said Eric Nanaykkara, deputy general
manager of the Ceylon Petroleum
Corporation - the country's sole petrol
importer and distributor. "There will
never be a totally green petrol. What we
can do is to take steps to minimise its
impacts on the environment."
The introduction of lead-free petrol
will also enable car dealers to import
high performance cars which use catalytic converters. Usually, lead compounds like tetraethyl lead is added to
petrol to improve ignition and fuel efficiency. Much of this lead is released in
the air by plying vehicles, which in Sri
Lanka are believed to be the principal
source of lead pollution, followed by
lead-based paints and various industrial
activities.
The introduction of lead-free petrol
comes not a moment too soon, A recent
study conducted by Matini Arewgoda, a
chemistry lecturer at the Kelaniya
University near Colombo, shows alarmingly high levels of lead in human blood
due to vehicle emissions. Particularly, a
level of more than 2.5 times the maximum level suggested by the World
Health Organization (WHO) has been
found in the blood samples of traffic
policemen. Malini also analysed blood
samples of different categories of people
extracted during rush hours in
Colombo.
Results showed that traffic policemen had 53.07 mg of lead per decilitre
of blood - the highest level of all categories studied, followed by taxi drivers
(15.12 mg), street vendors (12.59 mg)
and motorcycle riders (11.97 mg). The
control group, comprising adults away
from the city, had an average blood lead
level of 8.77 mg per decilitre.
"These findings should cause deep
concern in the community, especially
when compared with the maximum blood lead level suggested by WHO,
which is 20 mg per decilitre," says a scientist with Environmental Foundation,
a leading Larkan NGO.
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