Metro Manila air still carries toxic lead decades after gasoline phaseout

Counterintuitively, despite the ongoing fuel crisis and the over two decades since the global phaseout of leaded gasoline, toxic lead still lingers in Metro Manila's air. By analyzing aerosol data from as far back as 2018 and 2019 using lead isotope fingerprinting, an international team including researchers from the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Physics and the Manila Observatory found that lead pollution has taken on new forms and quietly persists to this day. Their study, published in Atmospheric Environment, points to modern industrial activities, fossil fuel combustion, and legacy pollution as key sources of lead pollution in the nation's capital.