Leaded petrol in question

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 4

Leaded petrol in question

Parliamentary reporter The real reason for dillydallying by the Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, over a survey to find levels of lead in blood of New Zealanders was because it might upset the Government’s plans on leaded petrol, said the Labour member of Parliament for Nelson, Mr P. T. Woollaston, yesterday. Mr Woollaston is just back from an overseas

tour in which he examined other Governments’ policies on leaded petrol and health. An E.E.C. research team had found that up to onethird of the lead in human blood came from lead added to petrol, Mr Woollaston said.

Mr Birch told Young Nationals in Christchurch this week that he was thinking of a survey of lead in blood, but that it

would cost tens of thousands of dollars, but might not yield useful results. Mr Woollaston said it appeared the Minister’s mind was already made up. “I suspect that the Minister is really aiming at finding whether the survey will support his own conclusions. If it will, its chances of funding will no doubt be better,” he said. The Government plans to

reduce lead levels in petrol from the existing 0.84 grams per litre (one of the highest in the world) to 0.45 g a litre (when the Marsden Point refinery expansion is completed). Mr Birch has said that city sizes and traffic volumes in New Zealand bring the real effects of 0.45 g of lead in one litre of petrol down to the equivalent British figure of 0.15 g a litre.