Phasing out lead in automotive fuels: conversion considerations, policy formulation, and application to Lebanon

The serious public health effects of lead are widely recognized, and many c ountries of the world have taken steps to completely eliminate it from auto motive fuels. This study reviews the international experience with phasing out leaded gasoline; considerations affecting adoption of unleaded fuel are identified, and difficulties underlying change are synthesized. Factors re lated to technology, supply availability, distribution channels, economics, and social equity are underlined. International experience is distilled in to a set of desirable characteristics of policies for phasing out leaded fu el. Such desirable properties include robustness vis-a-vis enforcement and compliance, the existence of a few "control points", flexibility with respe ct to future vehicle and fuel technologies, cost-neutrality, and fairness i n terms of incidence on socio-economic groups. The case of Lebanon is consi dered in structuring a practical strategy for phasing out leaded fuel. Posi tive and negative factors likely to affect the success of lead phaseout str ategies in Lebanon are identified. Consideration of these factors along wit h the desirable attributes of successful policies has led to the developmen t of a recommended plan for leaded fuel phaseout. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.