This is illustrated by the results of a ten-year survey, which has just been published in the magazine PNAS Nexus: “The fault of the leaded gasoline used by piston-engined aircraft”.
Children living near airports may unknowingly be exposed to toxic levels of lead. This is evidenced by the results of a ten-year survey, which has just been published in the scientific journal Nexus PNAS by a research team from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, USA, who found blood lead (blood lead) levels above the safe threshold – 4.5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL ), as defined by the California Department of Public Health – in the blood of children under the age of 6 who, during the study period (2011 to 2020), lived near Reid-Hillview Airport in the Santa Clara County, California.
Risks of lead poisoning in children
Although lead exposure can be dangerous for anyone – lead interferes with hemoglobin synthesis, so inhalation causes anemia at any age – children are more susceptible to the toxic effects of this heavy metal. that, depending on the concentration in the inhaled air and the frequency of exposure (occasional or chronic), can determine the appearance of symptoms characteristic of lead poisoning, such as irritability and reduced attention, to cause acute encephalopathy, cerebral edema, mental retardation, epilepsy, aggressive behavior disorders, developmental regression and chronic abdominal pain.
Blame the leaded gasoline used by piston engine planes
Despite reduction efforts implemented in recent years in the United States through the Clean Air Act, which led to the phasing out of tetraethyl lead in automotive gasoline, scientists agree that emissions lead in areas adjacent to airports are due to the portion of leaded gasoline that is still used by piston engine aircraft. In the United States, researchers estimate that approximately 170,000 aircraft are equipped with piston engines and that the use of this aviation fuel accounts for up to two-thirds of lead emissions in the United States.
The analysis notably showed that the probability that a child residing near the Reid-Hillview airport had a blood lead above the threshold of 4.5 µg/dL increased as the child lived near the airport. . The researchers also observed that blood lead levels were much higher when children resided east (downwind) of the airport, and blood levels increased as motor aircraft traffic piston engine was increasing and the quantities of leaded gasoline sold at the airport were increasing.
These same children were 2.18 times more likely to have blood lead levels above the threshold of concern. In comparison, children who lived a mile or more (1.6 km or more) from the airport were 21.4% less likely to have their blood sample exceed the threshold of concern than children who lived less than a half mile (800 meters) from the airport. the airport.
« Through a battery of tests, we found consistent evidence that the blood lead levels of children residing near the airport are increased by burning leaded aviation gasoline. – said the main author of the document, Sammy Zahran – . This indicates that we should support policy efforts to limit lead emissions from aviation to protect the health and well-being of at-risk children.”.