Swiss firms have been criticised in a report for
their links to the African trade in diesel with
toxin levels that are illegal in Europe.
Campaign group Public Eye says retailers are
exploiting weak regulatory standards
.


Vitol, Trafigura, Addax & Oryx and Lynx
Energy have been named because they are
shareholders of the fuel retailers.


Trafigura and Vitol say the report is
misconceived and retailers work within legal
limits enforced in the countries.


Three of the distribution companies mentioned
in the report have responded by saying that
they meet the regulatory requirements of the
market and have no vested interest in keeping
sulphur levels higher than they need to be.
Although this is within the limits set by
national governments, the sulphur contained
in the fumes from the diesel fuel could
increase respiratory illnesses like asthma and
bronchitis in affected countries, health experts
say.


Why are regulations so lax?..


The picture is changing but there are still
several African countries which allow diesel to
have a sulphur content of more than 2,000
parts per million (ppm), with some allowing
more than 5,000ppm, whereas the European
standard is less than 10ppm.
Rob de Jong from the UN Environment
Programme (Unep) told the BBC that there
was a lack of awareness among some policy
makers about the significance of the sulphur
content.


For a long time countries relied on colonial-
era standards, which have only been revised in
recent years.


Another issue is that in the countries where
there are refineries, these are unable, for
technical reasons, to reduce the sulphur levels
to the standard acceptable in Europe. This
means that the regulatory standard is kept at
the level that the refineries can operate at.
Some governments are also worried that
cleaner diesel would be more expensive,
therefore pushing up the price of transport.
But Mr De Jong argued that the difference was
minimal and oil price fluctuations were much
more significant in determining the diesel
price.


What's so bad about sulphur?


The sulphur particles emitted by a diesel
engine are considered to be a major
contributor to air pollution, which the World
Health Organization (WHO) ranks as one of
the top global health risks.
It is associated with heart disease, lung
cancer and respiratory problems.
The WHO says that pollution is particularly
bad in low and middle income countries.
Reducing the sulphur content in diesel would
go some way to reducing the risk that air
pollution poses.


What's being done about it?


Unep is at the forefront of trying to persuade
governments to tighten up the sulphur content
regulations and is gradually making progress.
In 2015, the East African Community
introduced new regulations for Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Diesel cannot
now have more than 50ppm in those
countries.


It is clear that the situation has improved
since 2005.


Unep's Jane Akumu is currently working with
the West African regional grouping Ecowas
and its Southern African counterpart Sadc to
try and change the regulations there.
She told the BBC that she was optimistic that
governments would bring down the legal
sulphur limits as the arguments in favour are
compelling.
www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37373414

hmmm

No wonder our fuel pumps and brain box develops problems always.
Chai, oyibo crooks have killed us oooooo

That's what happens when clueless decides Nigerians deserve only tokunbo cars

I know