[spchampion2]

Many countries permitted leaded gasoline for a long time, and many of the countries that kept it around the longest are also places that grow a lot of chocolate. Lead from car exhaust tends to stick around in the environment for a long time - as part of the soil and the dust in the air.

In South America [1]:

> The first country in South America initiating the phase-out of leaded gasoline was Brazil, moving toward alcohol fuels and unleaded gasoline from AD 1975 on, and achieving a total phase-out in 1991. On the contrary, unleaded gasoline in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru was not introduced before AD 1990–1991, and leaded gasoline was still in use until 1995 (Bolivia), 2004 (Peru), and 2005 (Chile).

In Africa [2]:

> But lead was still common in fuel in Africa and the Middle East. In 2002, UNEP organized a coalition of African governments and oil companies to promote the phaseout of leaded gas, the supposed vehicular benefits of which have been found to apply only to very old cars driven in extreme conditions. Lead was history in sub-Saharan Africa by 2006, and by 2014 was found only in Algeria, Iraq, Yemen, Myanmar, North Korea, and Afghanistan.

[1] - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4643815/ [2] - https://qz.com/africa/2053227/leaded-gasoline-is-now-banned-...

[dehrmann]

> Many countries permitted leaded gasoline

Avgas is still leaded in the US.

[londons_explore]

And if I were the president, I would ban avgas tomorrow.

The planes can all stay grounded till a replacement is available. The damage caused far outweighs the benefits of using it.

Yes, I know ambulance planes probably use it... Yes I know farmers use it for crop dusting. Yes I know some remote alaskan communities rely on flights for supplies. But spreading lead dust throughout the whole nation is worse than not having those things.