The rapid adoption by the car industry of catalytic converters for petrol engines to reduce NOx and other pollutants has significantly improved the quality of air in busy towns and cities. However, Italian scientists says this improvement has comes at a significant price as they are finding rapidly rising levels of heavy metal fallout that could have serious implications for health.
Claudio Botr̬ of the University of Rome and Alessandro Alimonti of the Italian National Institute of Health in Rome and their colleagues explain that the increasing numbers of catalytic converters on the road has led to rising environmental levels of the metals used as the catalysts in these devices Рplatinum, rhodium, palladium, and iridium. The team has published their detailed findings in the International Journal of Environment and Health.
More on this in a media release on AlphaGalileo