Report recommends less lead in petrol

Press, 11 September 1986, Page 7

Report recommends less lead in petrol

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Further reductions in lead levels in petrol and a strategy to achieve this are recommended in a report to the Government from the Commission for the Environment. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Goff, expects the recommendations to create some controversy among those less persuaded of the need for, or value of, reducing lead in petrol and who are reluctant to meet the economic cost of doing so.

He described the commission’s report as adopting an unashamedly proenvironment perspective on lead pollution. The cost of implementing the strategy would be met partly through the concept of "polluter pays.”

The Government was not yet committed to any particular course of action, Mr Goff said, and he would recommend that a technical committee be set up to take the matter further. No timetable had been set by the Government, but New Zealand could

have lead-free petrol by 1990.

A higher level of awareness of the toxic effects of lead in petrol and the high costs of correcting these effects was needed in the public before the Government could go further, he said. The report recommended a promotion campaign to encourage the use of unleaded petrol in vehicles for which this was suited. This campaign would explain the environmental and car maintenance benefits.

Lead has been singled out for attention because the impact is cumulative and then persists in the environment. It is a “neurotoxin” which affects the nervous system, particularly in children.

Lead was taken out of paint in 1960 and out of food containers in 1984, bilt progress on taking lead out of petrol has been much slower.

Until July this year, New Zealand had one of the world’s highest lead levels in petrol. Now the level has been almost halved from 0.84 grams a litre to 0.45.

In spite of this, more than 1000 tonnes of lead

is added to the New Zealand environment each year from lead in petrol. New Zealand is still lagging behind most Western countries. While air-lead levels are generally low by international standards, there are areas where pollution exceeds international safety levels. Air along Queen Street in Auckland and Manchester Street in Christchurch, for example, is highly contaminated. The commission’s report endorses the introduction of unleaded 91octane petrol next January, to replace leaded 91octane. Another recommendation is that those service stations now selling 91octane petrol should be required to sell the unleaded petrol from January.

The Government is urged to set a price differential in favour of unleaded petrol by imposing a pollution levy on leaded petrol. The report wants a further reduction to 0.15 grams a litre and recommended that this be investigated by an independent technical committee.