Page 77 - IBT October 2020

Childhood lead
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
symptoms are developed that prompt
testing, the human body has likely differences, emotional challenges,
know if a human body is inhaling it.
lead in your bones and teeth, where
water delivered through lead is stored. It is especially harmful
lead-contaminated pipes, or through
absorb more lead than an adult's
body would, allowing formative
take time to accumulate. By the time
for specific products; failure to
comply must have legal implications.
exposure has Our healthcare system needs to be
strengthened so that they are
also been linked equipped to detect, monitor and treat
lead exposure among children; and
to mental health provide children with enhanced
educational interventions and
and behavioural cognitive behavioural therapy to
better manage the adverse effects of
problems, and to lead exposure. There needs to a
strong push towards creating public
an increase of awareness and advocating
behavioural change by creating
crime and continual public education campaigns
about the dangers and sources of lead
violence. exposure with direct appeals to
possesses the fourth-highest A Holistic Approach parents, schools, community leaders
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 facilitated by global and regional
Bangladesh is the informal and involve working with lead often bring affected countries to address lead activities setting global standard
pollution and exposure among
substandard recycling of lead-acid contaminated dust home on their units of measure to verify the results
batteries. The recycling usually takes clothes, hair, hands and shoes, thus children using a coordinated and of pollution intervention on public
concerted approach. It starts with
place in open air to make matters inadvertently exposing their children health, the environment and local
worse, even dangerously close to the to the toxic element. establishing proper monitoring and economies; building an international
reporting systems which includes
homestead. Workers tend to break registry of anonymized results of
open battery cases, causing the acid Substantial Economic capacity building for blood lead level blood lead level studies, and creating
testing. The government must prevent
to spill lead dust in the soil, smelt the Impacts international standards and norms
recovered lead in crude, open-air The report estimates that the lead exposure in children by around recycling and transportation
implementing strict safety standard
furnaces resulting in the emission of economic loss due to lead-attributable of used lead-acid batteries.
toxic fumes, thus unknowingly IQ reduction in Bangladesh is
poisoning the neighbouring equivalent to 5.9 per cent of the GDP.
community. Lead, more precisely lead Lead poisoning hampers children’s
chromate, have been found in high ability to fully develop and prevents
concentrations in spices in addition them from taking the maximum
to cosmetics, ayurvedic medicines, 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
systems, producing learning children. Childhood lead exposure has the use of lead chromate, which has middle-income countries. However,
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
Children can inherit lead poisoning increase of crime and violence. Older back to unlawful recycling of in the United States. Childhood lead
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
it in their bones. Afterwards, if they damage and cardiovascular diseases investigation, has discovered that USD 1 trillion due to the lost
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.
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