In the news:
Originally published January 30, 2012 at 9:39 AM | Page modified January 30, 2012 at 9:47 AM
Small planes still pour lead into skies
Hundreds of thousands of planes still use fuel that contains lead, a brain-damaging substance that has been banned from paint and other products.
The Associated Press
Hundreds of thousands of planes still use fuel that contains lead, a brain-damaging substance that has been banned from paint and other products.
Public radio station KUOW in Seattle says (bit.ly/wce9Di) that the aviation fuel known as "avgas" accounts for less than 1 percent of the nation's liquid fuel use. However, enough planes use it to belch out half all the lead going into the nation's air.
That has some researchers concerned. America's air contains a lot less lead than they did before the 1980s, but new research has found lead to be harmful at much lower levels than previously thought.
Boeing Field's head planner Gary Molyneaux says the airport is concerned about lead emissions but adds that there's not enough data to understand it.
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Information from: KUOW-FM, http://www.kuow.org/
