The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared Tuesday that lead in fuel for small airplanes is a danger to public health, marking a key step toward taking regulatory action.
“The science is clear: exposure to lead can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a press statement.
He added that a new finding that lead in aviation emissions may be expected to endanger public health allows the Biden administration to “move forward in the process to propose new standards to protect all communities from the serious threat of lead pollution from aircraft.”
Planes that use leaded fuel are usually small piston-engine aircrafts that carry between two and 10 passengers. As of 2019, there were about 172,000 such planes in the U.S.
Commercial airplanes do not run on leaded fuel.
Exposure to lead can damage children’s brains and nervous systems and lead to slowed growth and development.