The unleaded cosh

Lead-free petrol, which the ministry of environment :nd forests (MEF) is All: seeking to introduce in W, the 4 major metrop titan cities by April 1, 1995, is hazardous to health, says H B Mathur, professor,of mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. An expert on automobile pollution, Mathur insists that unleaded petrol has at least twice as much benzene as leaded petrol. According to the World Health Organization, the chemical is carcinogenic and attacks the bone marrow. He also says that the fumes from vehicles using unleaded petrol include butadiene, which is said to cause lung cancer. Unleaded fuel will prove an expensive proposition, Mathur adds. To protect petrol pump attendants from benzene fumes, pumps will have to have nozzles fitted with vapour absorbing devices, costing more than Rs I lakh apiece.

MEF officials say that petrol pumps will be instructed to ensure that unleaded fuel is not provided to cars without catalytic convertors, which can reduce benzene emission. But, says Mathur, "By switching from leaded to unleaded fueli we will be swapping one health hazard for another."