So why is aviation fuel still laced with the metal — a neurotoxin tied to developmental problems in children? “Toddlers in California’s East San Jose, who live directly below the flight path to Reid-Hillview Airport, have concentrations of lead in their blood on par with children tested at the height of the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich. That’s because aircraft flying in and out of the airport are powered by leaded gasoline — three decades after the U.S. banned the fuel for cars, writes Ariel Wittenberg. A panel of aviation experts and fuel producers like Chevron and Exxon Mobil has repeatedly rejected proposals to create unleaded fuels for small aircraft, an investigation by POLITICO’s E&E News found. Public health experts routinely say there’s no safe level of lead because even minuscule amounts of the neurotoxin can disrupt child development…”