Nice phase
Recently, the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) in the us accomplished one of its most well known public health campaigns of the past quarter century, when it officially ended the phase-out of lead from gasoline.
According to a ruling issued by the EPA on January 29, automobile manufacturers in the us will no longer need to post labels stating "unleaded fuel only", and gasoline refiners and importers will be relieved of some record-keeping requirements. And these measures are no longer necessary, because the few remaining lead-gasoline sales that had been permitted in the US, were outlawed under the country's Clean Air Act.
Phasing out of lead in gasoline started in the US in the '70s. There was hardhitting evidence that lead in gasoline caused neurological damage in children, including mental retardation. As a result of the phase-out. blood-lead levels in children have declined by 70 per cent, stressed the EPA.
Initially. the technology on which the lead phase-out was based. was considered somewhat speculative. But over time it became well documented. And environmentalists now. in fact, are citing the instance of lead phase-out to buttress the case for a better safe-than-sorry approach to regulation observation.