If Greenpeace (or whatever activist organization is lamenting the working conditions of people recycling electronic products in China) were really concerned about people getting lead poisoning (and not just about advancing their agenda), they would have commented on the blood lead levels of Chinese people due to the use of lead in the gasoline in that country. I posted an item I called "Gnats and camels" back in 2002. When I went back to the archives to look for this posting, I couldn't find it. I think that it's still relevant, and so I'm posting it again.

I have just come across an organization called Global Lead Network. According to their web site http://www.globalleadnet.org/advocacy/initiatives/accelerated.cfm <http://www.globalleadnet.org/advocacy/initiatives/accelerated.cfm> , there are many countries that have yet to remove lead from gasoline, decades after it was shown to cause elevated levels of lead in the blood. This might be expected from the "axis of evil" countries, but some of them are European countries. (Four are members of the European Union, but I believe that all are phasing lead out of their gasoline.)

It seems strange that the governments of these countries are getting ready to demand the removal of lead from electronics (which has never been shown to cause health problems) yet they seem unconcerned that the citizens of neighboring countries are being systematically poisoned by the use of lead in gasoline (which everyone knows causes health problems). Jesus used the expression "straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel." It seems to fit this situation.

What possible motive could the environmental activist organizations have to make less of an issue of lead in gasoline than of lead in electronics and recycling? If they are truly concerned about public health, they should be focusing on pressuring these countries to go to lead-free gasoline. If they want to "think globally and act locally" they could organize boycotts of products from offending countries. As it is, they make more of a fuss that unwanted electronic products are sent to some of these countries for disposal (someone might contract lead poisoning from improper dismantling, one person told me) than that an obvious health menace is being allowed.

The above web site lists the countries that have removed lead from gasoline as of last November. From that and one other source I prepared a list (not comprehensive) of countries that still allow lead in gasoline: Algeria, Chile, Confederation of Independent States, Czech Republic, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Poland, Qatar, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela. (There are other countries which have removed lead from gasoline quite recently, and some in this list are in the process. You might want to keep this list handy if you are considering travel abroad. In particular, don't take your kids!)

Quoting now from this site,

Accelerating leaded gasoline phase-out worldwide is a key goal of the Global Lead Network. The Alliance's International Action Plan for Preventing Lead Poisoning identifies leaded gasoline phase-out as an urgent priority for environment, health, and sustainable development. The relationship between leaded gasoline use and elevated blood lead levels is well-documented and understood. Because of its dispersive nature, eliminating the use of leaded gasoline would prevent more lead poisoning cases than any other single measure. Countries that have already phased out leaded gasoline have demonstrated that it is practicable, cost-beneficial, and can be done quickly, in both developed and developing countries. The international commitment, technology, and resources for a worldwide phase-out of leaded gasoline are now in place. What is needed now is the political will to take advantage of this
opportunity and to carry out existing commitments to eliminate leaded gasoline use ... in order to help move to a sustainable future and provide a precedent-setting success story of international cooperation.

The Global Lead Network also provides a substantial list of links to additional resources relating to lead and health at http://www.globalleadnet.org/resources/links/index.cfm <http://www.globalleadnet.org/resources/links/index.cfm> .

Children in countries that allow lead in gasoline have elevated blood lead levels. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Among selected populations of children aged 1-6 years living in China [which only quite recently removed lead from gasoline], prevalences of elevated BLLs of up to 38% have been reported. Among Russian school-aged children, prevalences of elevated BLLs of up to 58% have been reported in one city." http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4905a3.htm <http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4905a3.htm> .

Also under the heading of gnats and camels, I came across a picture of a building (apparently constructed recently) that is sheathed in lead-coated copper at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/ASB/leadgeneral.html <http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/ASB/leadgeneral.html> . How would you compare the environmental risks of continuing to use lead in electronic products and allowing such buildings to be built and to stand? (My answer is that both are negligible, but I can just imagine picketers surrounding the building chanting "tear it down!") The same page (posted by the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Lead Management Program) lists five main sources of lead exposure to the general population (none of them electronic products) and states "Food is the greatest single source of lead for the average adult." Very few people have elevated blood lead levels, so this fact is important only in
indicating that people have been injudicious in picking their gnats.

Further information on the sources of lead exposure is given at http://www.som.tulane.edu/ecme/leadhome/sources.html <http://www.som.tulane.edu/ecme/leadhome/sources.html> . There you can learn that a recent study showed that "several types of lead-based hair coloring products contained lead acetate levels between 2,300 and 6,000 micrograms of lead per gram. After its use, hands, faucets, combs and other articles were coated with dangerous amounts of lead that could be transferred from surfaces and ingested by anyone who comes into contact with it." Lots of other potential sources are listed; lead in solder appears for hobbyists, but not consumers. A link to a nice map of lead in soil is given, along with the suggestion that this may be as important a source as peeling paint to urban children.

A site that goes beyond this suggestion and strongly asserts that the dangers of lead in paint have been exaggerated (in part because of a bureaucracy and remediation companies which benefit from the urban myth of the paint-lead poisoning link) is http://www.spoa.com/pages/lead-paint.html <http://www.spoa.com/pages/lead-paint.html> . I strongly recommend visiting the site. It's contrary to what you are used to being told. Here's a sample:

The costliest, most hazardous part of deleading [houses] is the dry-scraping of lead-painted woodwork, based on the 50-year-old myth that children chew it. The deleading contractor we spoke to - seven years in the business - said he has never seen chewing or teeth marks on woodwork that's required to be scraped. And a lead inspector we spoke to - 19 years in the business! - said he too has never seen chewing or teeth marks on the same type of woodwork. "Not even on window sills," he added.



Gordon Davy
Baltimore, MD
[log in to unmask]
410-993-7399



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