Lead in petrol

Press, 24 May 1982, Page 18

Lead in petrol

Sir, — Dr John Peet’s very timely article last week on the long-term effects of lead pollution from exhaust fumes leads one to wonder about the reputation Christchurch drivers have for bad driving, and whether the two matters are related. We are told that some of the eventual results of lead poisoning are aggressiveness and anti-social behaviour. Perhaps it reflects in the Christchurch road toll that this city’s lead levels are disgracefully high. Perhaps a better standard of driving and a reduction in the road toil would be additional benefits to be gained by stopping the unnecessary and inhumane practice of add- . ing lead to this country’s petrol. This might be a matter for road safety organisations to question urgently. — Yours, etc DENISE ANKER. May 18, 1982.

Sir, — I was interested in your leader on lead in petrol (May 18), and in the article by Garry Arthur (May 11), and I would like to support N. Negrescu’s letter (May 20). Perhaps public interest is now awakening to this menace. We are told that 90 per cent of our brain cells are formed in the very early years. Surely we should do all we can to provide an environment in which children can develop their potential, instead of knowingly maiming the brains of future generations, so increasing the problems of learning, social, emotional, and often criminal behaviour. It looks as if the remedy is hindered by a “think big” policy, for financial interests, which conversely seems to require a “think

small” policy for human welfare. — Yours, etc., B. M. GOLDSBROUGH. May 22, 1982.