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Gasoline numbers show need for testing

The numbers say it all.

In Ohio, where there is no testing program for gasoline quality at the pumps where it is sold, random checks show 12.4 percent of all gasoline tested -- 21.9 percent of regular gas checked -- to be too weak, dirty or diluted.

Meanwhile, the numbers are much lower in states where gasoline is tested regularly at the pump. Examples are problems with 0.3 percent of samples in Florida, 1.0 percent in North Carolina and 1.6 percent in Tennessee.

A barrage of words from industry spokespersons will not change those numbers.

Ohioans are buying a lot more bad gasoline than they would be if regular testing was done at the pumps.

The Ohio County Auditors Association and the Ohio Weights and Measures Association are considering an endeavor to obtain a testing requirement in the state. Auditor's offices across Ohio already check pumps to ascertain if amounts pumped are showing correctly.

State officials need to become involved, also.

If self-policing by the gasoline industry were going to work, it would already have done so.

Ohio needs a testing program to reduce the amount of tainted gasoline being sold at the pump.