By Paddy Burns (Y11 Ta 2002)
The main source of lead poisoning in the UK used to be petrol. The problem with leaded petrol (which has tetraethyl lead present) is that it gives off lead in a gaseous form and is very harmful to people. In New York in the 1960’s when a survey was taken to test the IQ’s of urban and rural children it was found that the rural children were somewhat smarter. It was then later found out that there were compounds of lead present in some of the children and older people living in the big cities. The link was therefore made between brain damage and lead compounds. Because of this, the lead substance is no longer found in cars constructed from the 1990s. That is why these petrol pumps are disappearing from our garage forecourts. Soon they will be dismissed to a corner of petrol stations, or be absent entirely.. Modern cars run on diesel or unleaded petrol. The latter is not totally lead free in fact. It contains 0.013 grams of lead per litre, compared with normal lead petrol which contained 0.15 grams per liter. Lead is added to the petrol because it increases its octane number, and this gives you more ignition spark in the engine, this improves the engines efficiency and fuel economy.
Cars
like these still use leaded petrol, notice how the pump is out of the
normal petrol pump’s forecourt.
Click
here to learn more details on why lead is a risk,
particularly to children.
more
information on leaded petrol can be found at sites like www.brunel.ac.uk
| Leaded compounds also enter the atmosphere where leaded paints are used. Click on the paint tin to learn more. |  |
