Soviet and post-Soviet environmental management: Lessons from a case studyon lead pollution

Through a case study on lead pollution in the former Soviet Union, the link age of policy, environmental science, and environmental management is explo red, and compared with the US experience. Soviet bans on leaded gasoline an d lead-based paint appear to have been effective. Regional governments, in cooperation with the petroleum industry, are taking the initiative in phasi ng out leaded gasoline, to some extent in defiance of federal policy. Probl ems with management of lead-acid batteries have been worsened by the collap se of the political system. Lack of reliable environmental data impedes rel iable environmental assessment. The types of environmental measurements ref lect an emphasis on multipollutant environmental contamination, rather than on human exposure to single pollutants.