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.