Page 76 - IBT October 2020

Special Report
LEAD IN
THE BLOOD
A Poison that Prevails a Lifetime
The Silent Killer invisible and odourless, which makes
it more hazardous. There's no way to
Lead is a sneaky little element. It's
malleable and durable, so it's no People may also ingest it from dust,
wonder that for years we used it in
piping and added it to paint. But it's
also extremely poisonous and can food cooked or stored on
create problems all over the body lead-containing surfaces. Its effects
ranging from rashes to anaemia. It is
70
According to the
know if a human body is inhaling it.
water delivered through
lead-contaminated pipes, or through
take time to accumulate. By the time
latest report by
UNICEF and Pure
Earth, a third of the
world's children are
poisoned by lead. for specific products; failure to
The report also
states, with over comply must have legal implications.
35.53 million Our healthcare system needs to be
children exposed, strengthened so that they are
Bangladesh is the equipped to detect, monitor and treat
fourth
most-seriously hit in lead exposure among children; and
terms of the number provide children with enhanced
of children a ected. educational interventions and
cognitive behavioural therapy to
By Asif Tarafdar better manage the adverse effects of
lead exposure. There needs to a
strong push towards creating public
awareness and advocating
behavioural change by creating
continual public education campaigns
about the dangers and sources of lead
exposure with direct appeals to
parents, schools, community leaders
possesses the fourth-highest A Holistic Approach and healthcare workers. The efforts
death-rate globally, with an average We must be fully able to grasp how must be backed by proper legislation
population having a blood lead level unprecedented the adverse effects of and policy including developing,
of 6.83 µg/dL, making it the 11th lead exposure are, especially on implementing and enforcing
highest on a global scale. Other children, who we are hoping to see as environmental, health and safety
sources of childhood lead exposure the ‘torch-bearers’ of tomorrow. standards for manufacturing and
include the lead in water from the use Getting exposed to lead poisoning recycling of lead-acid batteries and
of leaded pipes; active industry, such through lead contamination in water e-waste, and enforcing environmental
as mining and battery recycling. from the use of leaded pipes, lead and air-quality regulations for
Exposure has also been recorded from from active industries like mining smelting operations. Most
lead-based paint and pigments; and battery recycling, lead-based importantly, there should be a global
leaded gasoline, lead solder in food paint and pigments and leaded
The Toxic Truth cans, spices, cosmetics, ayurvedic consensus in addressing the issue
The major contributing factor towards medicines, toys and other consumer gasoline. and mitigating the impacts. it can be
The report urged the governments in
lead poisoning among children in products. Parents whose occupations affected countries to address lead facilitated by global and regional
activities setting global standard
Bangladesh is the informal and
involve working with lead often bring
substandard recycling of lead-acid contaminated dust home on their children using a coordinated and of pollution intervention on public
pollution and exposure among
units of measure to verify the results
batteries. The recycling usually takes
clothes, hair, hands and shoes, thus
concerted approach. It starts with
health, the environment and local
place in open air to make matters
inadvertently exposing their children
establishing proper monitoring and
economies; building an international
worse, even dangerously close to the
to the toxic element.
reporting systems which includes
registry of anonymized results of
homestead. Workers tend to break
capacity building for blood lead level
blood lead level studies, and creating
open battery cases, causing the acid Substantial Economic testing. The government must prevent international standards and norms
to spill lead dust in the soil, smelt the
Impacts
lead exposure in children by
around recycling and transportation
recovered lead in crude, open-air
The report estimates that the
implementing strict safety standard
of used lead-acid batteries.
furnaces resulting in the emission of
economic loss due to lead-attributable
toxic fumes, thus unknowingly
IQ reduction in Bangladesh is
community. Lead, more precisely lead
poisoning the neighbouring equivalent to 5.9 per cent of the GDP.
Lead poisoning hampers children’s
chromate, have been found in high
ability to fully develop and prevents
concentrations in spices in addition
to cosmetics, ayurvedic medicines, them from taking the maximum
advantage of the opportunities in life.
toys and other consumer products. The economic cost of childhood lead
Turmeric, being enhanced through exposure is $977 billion in low- and
symptoms are developed that prompt systems, producing learning children. Childhood lead exposure has the use of lead chromate, which has middle-income countries. However,
testing, the human body has likely differences, emotional challenges, also been linked to mental health and fatal long-term health effects among the loss accounts for $55 billion in
already amassed dangerous levels of and compromised motor skills. behavioural problems, and to an adults and children alike. Coming the European Union and $50.9 billion
lead in your bones and teeth, where Children can inherit lead poisoning increase of crime and violence. Older back to unlawful recycling of in the United States. Childhood lead
lead is stored. It is especially harmful directly from their mothers. Women children suffer severe consequences lead-acid batteries, Institute of Health exposure is estimated to cost lower-
to the young because their systems who end up ingesting lead can store including increased risk of kidney Metrics Evaluation, in their and middle-income countries almost
absorb more lead than an adult's it in their bones. Afterwards, if they damage and cardiovascular diseases investigation, has discovered that USD 1 trillion due to the lost
body would, allowing formative get pregnant, that lead can be passed in later life lead exposure in Bangladesh has economic potential of these children
damage to their brains and nervous on and damage the brains of their reached such a magnitude that it now over their lifetime.