“Unleaded Gas in Sub-Saharan Africa: The good news”
By Ambassador Yamamoto
(This op-ed was published in the Sunday, June 3 issue of Capital Newspaper in Addis Ababa)

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Everyone knows that air quality in Addis Ababa isn’t perfect.  The streets are full of cars and vans that belch sulfurous black smoke.  While pollution in Addis Ababa is a concern, the good news is that a very unhealthy additive has been removed from gasoline in Ethiopia.  We should celebrate the fact that in Sub-Saharan Africa today, leaded gasoline is a thing of the past.

Since 2004 when the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other donors to remove lead from gasoline in sub Saharan Africa, all of the gasoline imported into Ethiopia has been unleaded.  This is expected to have significant health benefits for the people of Ethiopia, particularly children.  It also has the potential to save millions in health care costs as people’s health improves.

But taking the lead out of gasoline is only half the story.  Even unleaded gas produces unhealthy exhaust fumes.  These emissions contain odorless and colorless gases that can cause lung damage and respiratory illnesses, decrease concentration and interfere with an individual’s ability to learn.  Children are particularly at risk when exposed to these gases.   Fortunately, catalytic converters, a vehicle component common on many newer model vehicles, can scrub these gases out of the exhaust.

In the past, car owners removed these devices from their vehicles because they didn’t work well with leaded gasoline.  Now that unleaded gas is widely available, it’s safe for cars to use catalytic converters.  Not only safe, but ideal.  To take full advantage of the boon of unleaded gas, catalytic converters should be left on vehicles that are imported into the country.

As for the thick black smoke coming out of the vehicle in front of you…UNEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are working together to reduce the sulfur content of diesel fuel in sub-Saharan Africa.  It will be some time before this is achieved, but in the meantime, Ethiopians can concentrate on the less visible, but just as real dangers of gasoline emissions.

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