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Table 3: Common issues faced by advocates of better regulation to reduce lead poisoning.
Examples from lead in petrol debates
1. Denial of the issue – ‘There isn’t an issue that needs to be addressed.’ “Potential health hazards in the use of leaded gasoline ... while well
worth investigating, were hypothetical in character.” Kehoe cited by
Nickerson (1954) in Nriagu 1990.
“Lead was described as “a naturally occurring toxin, as are alcohol,
sugar and salt.” Associated Octel 1995 cited by Wilson and Horrocks
2008.
“There is no evidence, however, that airborne lead from petrol has been
the cause of ill health in any group of the general population, even in
towns with heavy traffic...” Turner 1981, Associated Octel.
“In 1986 The Minister of Energy went even further in claiming that there
was no proven link between lead in gasoline and lead in people in New
Zealand. In stark contrast, a review in the same year (by a New Zealand
scientist) concluded that a third of blood lead came from lead additives.”
Wilson and Horrocks 2008.
2. Challenging the science – ‘There may be a theoretical issue but the
science shows there isn’t a problem.’
“The search for a solid, factual scientific basis for claims against lead
has produced nothing of substance ... Normally attacks on lead have
focussed on changes that lead emissions from auto exhausts are a
health hazard to the public, or that lead-free gasoline is necessary to
meet automobile emission requirements of the US Clean Air Act of 1970.
Neither charge is founded fact. Scientific evidence does not support the
premise that lead in gasoline poses a health hazard to the public, either
now or in the foreseeable future.” Cole et al. 1975 cited by Nriagu
1990.
“[Senator] Muskie: Does medical opinion agree that there are no
harmful effects and results from lead ingestion below the level of lead
poisoning?
Kehoe: I don’t think that many people would be as certain as I am at
this point.
Muskie: But are you certain?
Kehoe: ... It so happens that I have more experience in this field than
anyone else alive. ... The fact is, however, that no other hygienic
problem in the field of air pollution has been investigated so intensively,
over such a prolonged period of time, and with such definitive results.”
Dialogue from Senate Subcommittee on Air andWater Pollution
hearings on the US Clean Air Act, 1966 quoted by Needleman 2000.
3. Studies have not been undertaken in this country – ‘Research from
other countries is not relevant.’
“New Zealand [NZ] authorities discounted the relevance of international
research by their continued insistence that NZ was relatively free of
air pollution, or well “ventilated” as one put it. In 1987, the Chief Air
Pollution Control Officer for the Health Department asserted that the
density of motor cars per square kilometre was low in NZ, thereby
implying that motor vehicle pollution was of limited significance. This
view completely ignored the high urban density of vehicles.” Wilson
and Horrocks 2008.
David A. Stroud