The evidence on lead is clear.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin, and children are particularly vulnerable to its effects. Health Canada has concluded that there is no known safe level of lead exposure. That is why Canada removed lead from gasoline used in cars decades ago — and why we have worked to eliminate it from paint, toys, plumbing, and other sources of everyday exposure.

Yet communities around airports where piston-engine aircraft burn leaded fuel receive remarkably little information about the lead being released into the air around them.

That needs to change.

Public health authorities should treat lead pollution from aviation as they do other environmental contaminants: communicate potential risks, identify communities where exposure may be elevated, and proactively monitor lead levels in air, soil and other appropriate environmental samples around airports.

We shouldn't have to wait for evidence that children have already been exposed before taking action. Public health is about prevention. When dealing with a toxin for which there is no known safe level of exposure, a precautionary approach should come first.

Public health leaders can also add their voices to the call for a national plan to eliminate leaded aviation fuel — addressing the source of the pollution rather than simply managing its consequences.