The petrol that was poisoning childrenon February 20, 2021 at 12:09 am

How a successful campaign led to the banning of lead in petrol in the UK

The UK was one of the first countries in Europe to declare it would ban lead in petrol.

A 1980s campaign successfully proved it was poisoning children and leaving them permanently brain damaged.

Lead was first added to petrol in the 1920s to make the fuel run more efficiently.

Dr Robin Russell Jones from the “Campaign for Lead Free Air” spoke to Witness History about the battle to show that lead in petrol was dangerous.

Witness History: The stories of our times told by the people who were there.