A lead-free future?

2001/04/15 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Patenteak/Asmakizunak
• Ekologia
• Ingurumena

Even though the owners of supercars are too pleased with the ban on leaded gasoline, they say that such regulations are needed to reduce pollution. And they certainly won't be wrong, because since legislation was put in place in Japan and the United States to reduce lead pollution, things have improved a lot. These two countries, which in the 1970s discovered the dangers of lead pollution, are extending the ban to all peoples.

At that time, the main pollutant was attributed to the anti-detonation additives added to the gasoline. The first time it was marketed in Dayton (Ohio) in 1923, it was banned about 25 years ago. The ban came to France in January 2000 and will be applied in Spain from August 2001. However, due to the high number of cars using leaded gasoline, it is not possible to remove all these cars from the market from morning to night.

Not everything is man's fault. Volcanoes also throw a lot of lead into the area.

To facilitate the transition, oil companies have launched a special supplement that allows users of super gasoline to mix with unleaded gasoline to use as fuel. The additive is a mixture of organic salts of sodium, potassium, phosphorus and manganese. This opens a period of two years to renew the car park and completely eliminate those who need super gasoline.

Some may think that this is an excessive measure, but do not forget that this metal has terrible consequences for the health of living beings. A person may be infected by ingestion of contaminated food or water, inhalation of contaminated air, and/or through the skin. It prevents hemoglobin synthesis and causes alterations in neurological, colic and paralysis behaviors. In excessive amounts it can be a lethal substance.

Not everything is human fault

For those who get used to driving, this vehicle becomes essential. Surely that is why there is talk of the problems that can generate the ban of so many superres, but the automotive is not the only sector affected by this regulation. Lead has been used for many years in water pipes, paints and agriculture. When lead has been thrown into the atmosphere it becomes a direct danger to humans, but when used in agriculture, coupled with organic matter, it is trapped on the earth's surface and slowly accumulates. The problem arises from the degradation of organic matter (e.g. compostar) or from the assimilation of lead to living organisms by releasing lead by movements and erosions of land. That is why, according to some experts, it is defined as a "delay bomb".

New regulations are prohibiting lead tonic in all peoples.

However, research in recent years has shown that increased lead concentration is not always due to human activity, based on lead isotopes. In fact, while it was considered that volcanic activity only throws a small percentage of lead into the atmosphere, as was suspected, it has been shown that they are responsible for the concentration of lead in the vicinity of volcanoes. For example, research on the lichen of the shores of Etna and Vulcano volcanoes has shown that volcanic activity can contaminate the plants and constructions of the area. Although there were no excuses for not living on the slopes of a volcano, from now on a new reason is added to the danger.

Conqueror of many places and times

Don't think the only sources of lead are food. The consumption and use of water, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and cosmetic products can significantly increase the concentration of lead. For example, the intake of lead through tap water can reach 60% of the intake and that of alcoholic beverages represents 20%. On the other hand, while cosmetic products used in developed countries cannot be guaranteed to be harmful, unlike Africans and Asians, they do not contain lead. Lead is one of the ingredients of the product called Surma, used in their countries to strengthen children's eyes and improve their appearance. It is applied in the eyes and if used much reaches the blood. The youngest child affected by the saturnism generated by the use of this product was only four years old. Even losing health to improve appearance!

Today, the harm to the health of some children is not a joke, but in its long history lead is a more surprising and terrible damage. In Roman times, mixed with silver, it was used to create silver galena and spread through ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, especially in the area of Spain. At this time, lead was used as a preservative and food condiment, as well as in cosmetics and industry.

According to some, it was also the main cause of the decline of the Roman Empire. Lead poisoned the Roman aristocracy and made it sterile. There are more and more new theories questioning this theory, but no one doubts that there will be many Romans affected by Saturnism.

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