Children’s Exposure to Lead Pollution: Global Report | UNICEF

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There  is no known safe level of lead exposure

-WHO

According to the WHO, there is no known safe level of lead exposure. Relatively low levels of lead exposure that were previously considered ‘safe’ have been shown to damage children’s health and impair their cognitive development. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that, with even low-level exposure, is associated with a reduction in IQ scores, shortened attention spans and potentially violent and even criminal behaviour later in life. Children under the age of 5 years are at the greatest risk of suffering lifelong neurological, cognitive and physical damage and even death from lead poisoning. Older children and adults, as well, suffer severe consequences from prolonged exposure to lead in food, water and the air they
breathe, including increased risk of cardiovascular death and kidney damage in later life.

Highlights

1. Hundreds of millions of children are poisoned by lead.(Global Burden of Disease has found that across all countries globally approximately 815 million children are estimated to have blood lead levels above 5 µg/dL.)
2. According to ground-breaking new analysis and research, around 1 in 3 children – up to approximately 800 million globally – have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL),
3. The unequivocal conclusion of this research is that children around the world are being poisoned by lead on a massive and previously unrecognized scale.
4. Childhood lead poisoning should command an urgent international response. But because lead wreaks its havoc silently and insidiously, it often goes unrecognized.
5. The impact of lead on adults is so large that over 900,000 premature deaths per year are attributed to lead exposure

 

Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Children

Exposure sources  of Lead

Lead can be found throughout the environment in which children
live — in the air they breathe, the water they drink, the soil they walk and crawl on, the food they eat, the paint on the walls they touch, and even in some of the toys they play with.

1. Some traditional cosmetics
2. Lead-based paints and pigments
3. Some toys and jewellery
4. Certain herbal, traditional and ayurvedic medicines
5. Dust and chips from peeling, cracking lead-based paint
6. Certain spices and candies
7. Some solders in food cans
8. Lead-based ceramic glazes on dishes and cooking pots
9. Some metallic cookware
10. Leaded gasoline
11. Lead water pipes and fixtures
12. Contaminated industrial sites
13. Unsound ULAB recycling sites
14. Emissions from waste incinerators
15. Contaminated soil where children play and food is grown
16. Family members with occupational exposure who bring lead dust home on clothes and shoes

 

Six Pronged Approach

1. Monitoring and Reporting Systems
2. Prevention and Control Measures Management, Treatment and Remediation
3. Public Awareness and Behaviour Change
4. Legislation and Policy
5 .Global and Regional Action

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Adopted from The Toxic Truth:Children’s Exposure to Lead Pollution Undermines a Generation of Future Potential,UNICEF