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Sunday Reading
New Delhi, 21 May 2010
Lead Poisoning
A SILENT KILLER
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Lead pollution from a
newly-opened and unlicensed manganese smelter affected about 1300 children in China’s south-eastern Hunan province, reveals a recent report. Though the smelter has closed down, tests
found elevated levels of lead in the blood of 1354 children or about 7 in 10
children who were examined. Additionally, reports of poisoning of a similar
incident occurred in Shaanxi
province where state media found 851 children living near the nation’s fourth
largest smelter had tested positive for lead poisoning.
Lead is a silent killer.
Exposure to even small amounts of lead can have long-term and measurable
effects in children and adults as once absorbed in the bloodstream, it can
affect the liver, kidney, renal colic, haemoglobin content, central nervous
system, IQ etc. This has been confirmed in a study, part of an international
research project titled: Lead levels in new enamel paints from Asia, Africa
and South America. The study found that in
normal yellow paints available in Kolkata, the average lead concentration is as
high as 84,456 ppm (parts per million) in place of the international standards,
which is 600 ppm.
The Indian part of the
research was anchored by the National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning in
India (NRCLPI) and its West Bengal branch
collected 58 sample brands available in the open market. The tests also
revealed that yellow paint has average lead concentration of 84,456 ppm,
followed by79,609 ppm for orange, 30,609 ppm for red and 28,109 for green with
only 1299 for white. Bright and flashy colours with greater colour pigment
concentration in them were found to be more harmful. The study suggested
to go for lead-free paints and if this was not available, one should choose
less harmful colours such as white and blue.
According to the study, India ranks on the higher side in average lead
concentration (29,660 ppm), while Singapore registered the least
amount of lead in its paints. Equador with 31, 960 ppm topped the list. Most of
the Third World countries were found to have
high lead concentrations in paints.
Going into the details
of lead poisoning, it is said that this may be caused by months or years of
exposure to small amounts of lead at home or work or exposure to higher
concentrations. The most common source of lead exposure for children is
lead-based paint, dust and soil that may be contaminated. Other sources of
lead exposure include contaminated air, including industrial emission, water
and soil; alternative medicines and supplements such as vitamins from India; food or
juice stored in cans made with lead or glazed with lead-based glazes and
working with stained glass, lead-based models. Though no figures for India are available, it is estimated that lead
affects around 310,000 children in the US.
The general physical
symptoms in children and adults when lead poisoning is severe are: stomach
aches, cramping, constipation or diarrhea; nausea and/or vomiting; persistent
unexplained fatigue; headache; and muscle weakness
Children with chronic
low blood lead levels who may not have obvious symptoms of lead poisoning may
have learning problems and be smaller in size than children their age who do
not have low to moderate levels of lead poisoning. Studies conducted in the
West have shown that declines in the IQ can even be seen in children with blood
lead concentrations below 10 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood (10
mcg/dL), the level of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention.
The behavioural symptoms
in children include irritability or aggressiveness, impulsiveness apart from
learning problems and lack of appetite while for adults these are more or less
the same but also include memory loss and inability to concentrate. In severe cases, paralysis, swelling of the
brain, seizers, coma and even death could take place.
Neurological problems may also occur to those affected
by lead poisoning, including seizures and paralysis in extreme cases. There are
also reports that excessive lead consumption could also enter the brain leading
to damage in the central nervous system. Dangers of exposure to lead in
pregnant women reveal that there could be pre-term delivery; low-birth weight
of the new born and miscarriage and stillbirth. If the lead enters the foetus
through placenta of the mother it would cause serious damage to nervous system
and brains of unborn children.
Obviously lead poisoning
can be prevented by removing the source of lead in the house or at the
workplace. It has been found that older buildings in traditional societies such
as India
had lead-based paint and these are vulnerable areas. There is also a need to
avoid natural medicines or supplements such as herbs or vitamins, cosmetics
like surma, food such as vegetables grown in contaminated soil or
food from soldered cans, water from faucets in homes with lead or lead-soldered
copper pipes and polluted air near smelters.
Balanced nutrition may
prevent lead poisoning. Vitamin C, iron, zinc, calcium and phosphorus make it
likely for the body to absorb lead. It is thus essential particularly for
children to get enough of these nutrients in their daily food. Frequent meals
or snacks prevent lead poisoning because lead is not easily absorbed on a full
stomach. It may also be mentioned here that people who eat high-fat diets
absorb more lead as those with iron deficiency.
Often these efforts may
not reduce lead levels in the human body. If lead levels are very high, chelation
therapy may be used. The therapy involves taking medicines that bind to
lead in the body and help speed its implementation through the kidneys.
Indeed, there is an
imperative need to generate awareness among the people regarding these facts so
that children could be prevented from lead contamination. Moreover, frequent
checks are needed on the paints manufacturers and other industrial users of
lead so that they are forced to do away with the dangerous metal. The role of
voluntary organizations in generating mass awareness is too vital at this stage
as investigations reveal that even the highly educated in the metro cities are
not quite aware of the severe potential of lead poisoning on human health. Let
lead not play havoc with our lives. -- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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