I am not sure how one "bans lead mining" because "lead mining" is often part of the mining for copper, zinc, silver and other elements.  What do they want the mines and smelters to do, just throw the lead back into the ground after they have removed the non-banned elements from the ore? If you are mining for copper and the ore contains lead are you  "mining lead"?

And if you ban the use of all lead what do you do with all the lead that is currently in circulation? According to the US Geological Survey (a US federal agency) in 2002 "About 1.1 million tons of secondary lead were produced (i.e. recycled - cd), an amount equivalent to 69% of domestic lead consumption. Nearly all of it was recovered from old (post-consumer) scrap. About 1 million tons (equivalent to 63% of domestic lead consumption) was recovered from used batteries alone."  So if we stop
using all lead that is going to have to go back into the "environment".

"We think the ultimate solution is to take lead out of the system altogether,"

This isn't just bad science it is bad thinking - or no thinking at all.

Charles F. Dolci
Director - Business Continuity and EH&S Programs
Sun Microsystems, Inc.





Dennis Fritz wrote:
> 
> Posted for your comment:
> 
> Tampa Tribune
> 07/27/2003
> 
> TAMPA, Fla.--A duet of national environmental watchdogs declared war on lead
> in cars last week, calling on auto manufacturers to find alternatives to
> lead batteries they say pollute America's water and air. By 2014, a 51-page
> report issued Wednesday says, auto makers should switch to lead-free
> batteries. And by 2006, they should phase out other lead use in cars
> altogether. Finally, the groups' far-reaching report urges, governments in
> the United States and Canada should ban lead mining altogether. "In its
> lifetime, a car uses enough lead to paint a house with highly toxic lead
> paint," said Kevin Mills of New York-based advocacy group Environmental
> Defense. "Automakers are not investing enough in safe alternatives." But
> one
> auto manufacturer warned that phasing lead out of cars in such a short time
> could drive up the cost of the average car. Lead-free automobile batteries
> can cost as much as $140, compared with about $50 for a standard battery.
> "Sometimes the people who put out these reports are not very well versed in
> the complexity of the auto industry and what it takes to actually do these
> things," said Terry Cullum, director of Environment and Energy for General
> Motors. Long-term exposure to lead and cadmium can result in brain, lung
> and
> kidney damage and is a suspected cause of cancer.
> 
> Mills' group, along with the Michigan-based Ecology Center, co-authored the
> report, called "Getting the Lead Out: Impacts of and Alternatives for
> Automotive Lead Uses." Its recommendations:
> 
> --Phase out traditional lead-acid car batteries by 2014, replacing them
> with
> more costly, but longer-lasting, nickel-metal hydride or lithium-ion
> batteries.
> 
> --Phase out other uses of lead in automobiles by 2006. The average car has
> 27 pounds of lead in protective paint coatings, alloys, solder and
> batteries. The tiny weights used to balance wheels alone dumps thousands of
> pounds of toxic lead on roadways every year, environmentalists say.
> 
> --Make auto makers responsible for ensuring that lead used in cars is
> properly recovered and managed.
> 
> -- Ensure that lead isn't released by industries that handle "end-of-life"
> or discarded cars, such as auto salvage yards.
> 
> --Establish federal programs to "retire" lead use and eventually ban lead
> mining. "We think the ultimate solution is to take lead out of the system
> altogether," Mills said.
> 
> Jeff Gearhart of the Ecology Center said car batteries use 1.2 million tons
> of lead a year. Although many discarded batteries are recycled, more than
> 46,000 tons of battery lead still end up in landfills annually, he said.
> Even recycling lead batteries is an "inherently dirty" business, Mills
> said.
> In 1991, for example, state officials found lead contamination under a
> 144-unit apartment complex built on the site of a former battery recycling
> plant in Temple Terrace. The property was later listed as a federal
> Superfund site. "The history of lead smelting and processing is one that
> has
> left a long trail of of contaminated sites across the country," Mills said.
> 
> To see more of the Tampa Tribune -- including its homes, jobs, cars and
> other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
> http://www.tampatrib.com Copyright © 2003 Tampa Tribune, Fla. Distributed
> by
> Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
> 
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