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Asian governments should move quickly to remove lead from gasoline because of its significant impact on learning disabilities in children, according to more than 300 environmental and health experts meeting in Thailand.
The First International Conference on Environmental Risks to Children’s Health, which ended today (7 March) at the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok, Thailand, concluded that in Asia, where over half the world’s population lives and 40 per cent of the population is under 18 years of age, the damage to children’s health, and therefore to the future intellectual and economic capacity of the region, could be catastrophic.

Researchers associated with Thailand’s Mahidol University have already detected reductions in the level of lead in children’s blood in Bangkok after the introduction of unleaded gasoline in the country.

© SciDev.Net 2002