Based on current comments this piece is most interesting.

Joe

SCIENCE NEWS
December 06, 2006
U.S. mulls removing lead from  list of pollutants

By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S.  environmental regulators are considering removing
lead, a heavy metal linked to  learning problems in children, from a list of
regulated pollutants because past  rules have greatly reduced levels of the
toxin.
An Environmental Protection  Agency staff paper released on Tuesday said the
agency would evaluate the status  of lead as an air pollutant and "assess
whether the revocation of the standard  is an appropriate option for the
Administrator to consider."
The EPA said  that from 1980 to 2005 the national annual lead concentrations
have dropped more  than 90 percent. Lead levels in air have mostly fallen
because it was banned as  a gasoline additive starting in the 1970s. Auto makers
had asked for the ban  because it damaged catalytic converters.

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