Heavy metals from cars reach Greenland.

• Author: Dunn, Seth
• Position: Catalytic converters - Brief Article

* Heavy metals from cars reach Greenland: Scientists from France and Italy have found remote regions of Greenland to be contaminated by heavy metals, many of which are likely to have originated from automobile catalytic converters. The finding, published in the March 1 issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology, suggests that efforts to reduce automotive emissions are having unintended global consequences, with potential human health implications.

Over the past quarter century, industrial nations have equipped the exhaust systems of gasoline-powered cars with catalytic converters to lower emissions of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons--key components of urban air pollution. The converters have significantly reduced levels of these gases, as well as those of lead, since they require unleaded gasoline. Some scientists, however, raised concerns that the metals on which the converter technology is based--platinum, palladium, and rhodium--could become widely dispersed in the environment.

To assess this potential risk, the scientists analyzed snow samples from central Greenland...