http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lead-in-aviation-fuel/
GA pilots should be pressuring the relevant suppliers and authorities to develop the required fuel ASAP. (It should have been done decades ago, obviously.) You know that the phase-out of lead is coming, you know that lead is toxic, you know that post-Flint political pressure to get lead out of kids is going to increase, so you might as well show that you're a responsible group by getting out in front of it.
Cheers,
Scott.
Some of the health effects of repeated exposure to lead include damage to the central nervous system, kidneys and red blood cells, and decreased function in the cardiovascular and immune systems. Lower IQ levels and learning disabilities can also result from lead exposure, especially in children, whose young bodies are more sensitive than those of adults. And scientists at the National Toxicology Program have concluded that lead and lead compounds are “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes lead as a neurotoxin and in 2008 set tough new standards for how much of it is safe in our air. In 2010 the agency identified 16 U.S. regions that fail to meet clean air standards for airborne lead; all either contained or were near airports where leaded avgas is the norm. But the EPA has not yet restricted lead in avgas, even though unleaded avgas is available.
A 2011 Duke University study found that kids living within 500 meters of an airport where leaded avgas is used have higher blood lead levels than other children, with elevated lead levels in blood found in kids as far as one kilometer away. The EPA estimates that 16 million Americans live close to one of 22,000 airports where leaded avgas is routinely used—and three million children go to schools near these airports.
GA pilots should be pressuring the relevant suppliers and authorities to develop the required fuel ASAP. (It should have been done decades ago, obviously.) You know that the phase-out of lead is coming, you know that lead is toxic, you know that post-Flint political pressure to get lead out of kids is going to increase, so you might as well show that you're a responsible group by getting out in front of it.
Cheers,
Scott.