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If we want to tackle deadly air pollution, we should learn from the 1980s campaign for lead free petrol

The Clear campaign prompted Thatcher to introduce lead free petrol. Dr Robin Russell-Jones urges Boris Johnson’s government to take similar action over air pollution following the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah

Wednesday 06 January 2021 14:29 GMT
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<p>Ella Kissi-Debrah was found to have died from asthma as a result of illegal levels of air pollution in South London</p>

Ella Kissi-Debrah was found to have died from asthma as a result of illegal levels of air pollution in South London

The campaign waged by Rosamund Kissi-Debrah over the tragic death of her little girl Ella from asthma, compounded by illegal levels of air pollution in South London, can be compared with the drive to stop the addition of lead to petrol in the early 1980s. 

Lead is a known neurotoxin and a study in 1979 showed a link between the lead found in children’s milk teeth and neuro-cognitive effects including a reduction in IQ of four to five points, reduced ability of children to concentrate, hyperactivity and increased frustration.

A Department of Health (DoH) report, named the Lawther report and published the same year, largely ignored the study and mistakenly concluded that the main route by which lead in petrol gained access to the human body was via inhalation. But a series of ground-breaking studies by the geochemist and earth scientist Clair Patterson had already demonstrated conclusively that most of the lead in natural ecosystems, and in many food-stuffs, was lead contamination from petrol, and that the true contribution of petrol lead to human intake was over 70 per cent. These data were also ignored in the Lawther report.

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