A British company convicted of bribing foreign
officials to maintain sales of a poisonous lead fuel additive is
continuing to sell the chemical abroad to unstable countries, despite
mounting evidence that it is responsible for long- term damage to human
health. Leaded petrol could be linked to brain damage among inner-city children
that saw fuel containing the additive begin to be banned around the
world. It has also since been linked to schizophrenia.Research carried out on behalf of the Unep on the global economic and
health benefits of the removal of leaded fuel, which found it had
avoided 1.2 million premature deaths per year and resulted in 58 million
fewer crimes.
Innospec Ltd, which claims to be the world's only producer of tetraethyl lead (TEL) is American owned but maintains much of its manufacturing in the UK, its plant in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. It intended to stop production and sales of TEL at the end of 2012 but has now set a new deadline of the end of this year to halt all dealings in the chemical. It recently told shareholders it would seek to "maximise the cash flow" from its declining sales of TEL.
The risks associated with leaded petrol have resulted in its phased removal from rich countries since the mid-1970s. Britain was one of the last to ban the fuel, with widespread sales of four-star finally stopping in 1999. TEL-boosted petrol is now only used in Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Burma, Yemen and North Korea.
Craig Bennett, director of policy and campaigns for Friends of the Earth, said: "If the British Government has decided that for health and safety reasons this toxic chemical should not be used in the UK, why on earth does this company think it is OK to sell it abroad?"
Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace, said: "There's a reason leaded petrol and paints are banned in the UK. Whether or not the apparent link with crime is proven, this is still a highly toxic element that does great damage to human health. It's bizarre that a UK company isn't allowed to sell it to British people but is left free to flog it to citizens of poorer countries."
Two years ago, the company pleaded guilty in the US and British courts to paying massive kickbacks to Iraqi and Indonesian officials to secure lucrative contracts supplying TEL between 2000 and 2008. Among the activities that the company admitted was bribing staff at the Iraqi Ministry of Oil in 2006 to ensure that a competing petrol additive that did not contain lead failed field trial tests.
Innospec Ltd, which claims to be the world's only producer of tetraethyl lead (TEL) is American owned but maintains much of its manufacturing in the UK, its plant in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. It intended to stop production and sales of TEL at the end of 2012 but has now set a new deadline of the end of this year to halt all dealings in the chemical. It recently told shareholders it would seek to "maximise the cash flow" from its declining sales of TEL.
The risks associated with leaded petrol have resulted in its phased removal from rich countries since the mid-1970s. Britain was one of the last to ban the fuel, with widespread sales of four-star finally stopping in 1999. TEL-boosted petrol is now only used in Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Burma, Yemen and North Korea.
Craig Bennett, director of policy and campaigns for Friends of the Earth, said: "If the British Government has decided that for health and safety reasons this toxic chemical should not be used in the UK, why on earth does this company think it is OK to sell it abroad?"
Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace, said: "There's a reason leaded petrol and paints are banned in the UK. Whether or not the apparent link with crime is proven, this is still a highly toxic element that does great damage to human health. It's bizarre that a UK company isn't allowed to sell it to British people but is left free to flog it to citizens of poorer countries."
Two years ago, the company pleaded guilty in the US and British courts to paying massive kickbacks to Iraqi and Indonesian officials to secure lucrative contracts supplying TEL between 2000 and 2008. Among the activities that the company admitted was bribing staff at the Iraqi Ministry of Oil in 2006 to ensure that a competing petrol additive that did not contain lead failed field trial tests.
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