Leaded gasoline reduces IQ of 1 million kids
Leaded gasoline reduces IQ of 1 million kids
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
More than one million elementary school students suffer a reduced
intelligence quotient (IQ) due to air pollution resulting from
the use of leaded gasoline in automobiles, an official has said.
Students with reduced IQ were found in cities with traffic
congestion, as in Jakarta.
An official at the environment ministry responsible for
environmental impact control, Y. Mukawi, disclosed that the IQ
reduction among one million elementary school students was
discovered following research by the World Bank at some schools
in Jakarta.
The research, carried out in 1994, concluded that the IQ
reduction was caused by emissions from leaded gas.
Mukawi warned that children under five years old were very
vulnerable to air pollution.
Prompted by this knowledge, the government has continuously
tried to free fuel from lead.
Mukawi made the statement at a ceremony declaring the resort
island of Bali free from leaded gasoline on Saturday.
Also present at the occasion were Minister of Energy and
Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, State Minister for the
Environment Nabiel Makarim and director is it president director?
of state oil company PT Pertamina Baihaki Hakim, Antara reported.
Bali is the third area in Indonesia to be declared free from
leaded gasoline after Jakarta and its satellite cities -- Bogor,
Tangerang, and Bekasi -- and Cirebon, West Java.
Makarim said too much exposure to leaded gasoline might reduce
IQ, particularly of children aged under five.
Sharing Makarim's view, Baihaki Hakim said the pollutants in
leaded gasoline might not only affect IQ but also gave rise to
hypertension, blood pressure and heart complications.
Quoting results of studies carried out by a number of experts,
the Pertamina director said the pollutants in leaded gasoline
were very hazardous to human health and the environment.
Nabiel said that the government was supposed to have declared
all provinces free from leaded gasoline this year.
Due to the multidimensional crisis, he said, the government
was able to declare only three areas free from leaded gasoline.
Jakarta and its satellite cities were declared leaded
gasoline-free on July 1, 2001. A few months later, Cirebon
municipality in West Java was added to the same list.
Baihaki emphasized the inclusion of Bali in the list meant
that 30 percent of the nation's supply of gasoline was free from
the hazardous element.
He added that his office intended to declare Indonesia's
atmosphere free from leaded gas in 2005.