LEAD
POISONING - ENVIRONMENT
News:
Conversation with FDA on
Steps the Agency is Taking to Address Unsafe Levels of Lead Found in Cinnamon
What's
in the news?
●
The FDA issued a safety alert advising
consumers not to buy or eat certain ground cinnamon products because samples of
these products were found to contain elevated levels of lead.
Lead
Poisoning:
●
Lead is a highly toxic metal and a very strong poison.
●
Lead poisoning is a serious and sometimes
fatal condition which occurs when lead builds up in the body.
●
It is characterized especially by fatigue,
abdominal pain, nausea, loss of appetite, anemia, a dark line along the gums,
and muscle paralysis
Sources
of Lead Poisoning:
●
It includes battery recycling, lead mining, smelting, welding, soldering, automobile
repatriating, household paints, etc.
Global
Scenario:
●
Around 1 in 3 children – up to
approximately 800 million globally, have blood lead levels (BLL) at or above 5
micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL)
●
Children around the world are being
poisoned by lead on a massive and unrecognized scale.
●
The impact of lead on adults is so large
that over 900,000 premature deaths per year are attributed to lead exposure.
●
Many countries lack sufficient formal
recycling infrastructure and capacity to handle the quantity of used lead-acid
batteries flooding their markets.
Indian
Scenario:
●
Lead toxicity in India continues to remain
a public health concern.
●
India is a home to a large population of
children (275,561,163 of the 800 million) poisoned by lead.
●
Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh had
the highest average blood lead levels (BLL) among Indian states.
●
Some 23 states have an average BLL that
goes beyond five microgram per decilitre (μg / dl)
●
Lead poisoning has caused 230,000
premature deaths in India.
Impact
of Lead Toxicity:
●
Lead exposure can have serious
consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure lead
attacks the brain and central nervous system, causing coma, convulsions and
even death.
●
Lead can affect children’s brain
development, resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioural
changes, reduced attention span, etc.
●
Lead exposure also causes anemia,
hypertension, renal impairment, and toxicity to the reproductive organs.
Limitation:
●
Lead's tolerable limit of 5 µg/dL set by WHO.
●
Lead can be ingested through mouth,
inhaled through the respiratory system or absorbed by the skin, as per the
World Health Organization (WHO).