Toxic effects of lead on children: India tops list of affected countries, while Pakistan ranks third

 

According to a new international study on the toxic effects of lead, Pakistan ranks third in the world and India ranks first in the extent of children affected by lead.

 

According to the report, one in three children international is uncovered to the toxic effects of lead, which can cause irredeemable damage to their health.

 

The report says that 800 million children international are affected by lead, most of them in developing countries. This problem has not been seen on such a large scale before.

About half of the world's lead-affected children are in South Asia, while Pakistan has more than 41 million such children.

 

The report examines data from the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation.

 

The toxic effects of lead cause permanent damage to children's brains, nervous system, heart, lungs and kidneys.

 

Lead is a neurotoxin that, even in small amounts, can lead to loss of intelligence, loss of consideration, and violent and criminal behavior later in life, the report said.

 

"From beginning to five-year-olds are at greater risk of lifelong mental illness and physical disability and even death."

 

The second largest area affected by lead poisoning is Africa, where Nigeria is most affected. According to the report, India ranks first, while Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh rank second, third and fourth respectively.

 

Lead-inducing substances:

According to the report, reprocessing of batteries that use lead acid is the biggest cause. While waste used electronic goods, some spices that contain injurious substances, paints on buildings and some toys are also sources of lead poisoning.

 

Nicholas Race, one of the report's authors, told the number of automobiles in developing and poor countries has tripled, leading to recyclable lead-acid batteries. The building work has also increased a lot. This is often done in a dangerous way.

 

Eighty-five percent of the world's lead is used to make batteries, most of which come from recycled car batteries, the report said.

 

A study published in Pakistan in 2017 found data on large quantities of lead in the blood of expecting women and children. The report said that increased levels of lead in the blood of expecting women and young children were the main causes of food, domestic dust and gasped dust.

 

Another study showed in Pakistan two years ago has exposed the facts about the large amount of lead in building paints.

 

Dr Imran Khalid, of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, a non-governmental organization, said: "Regardless of regulations limiting the amount of lead in paints, we found much lead in our research."

The presence of lead in drinking water is also an unruly, he said.

 

"Industrial waste is polluting groundwater, as well as lead in water supply pipes."

 

One of the causes of lead pollution in South Asia is inverters that people are enforced to use due to power outages. Homes are often without power, which is why people are purchasing inverters to produce electricity.

 

Dr Abbas Mehdi, of the biochemistry department at King George's Medical University in Lucknow, says: "In Uttar Pradesh, we found out that the source of a child's illness was a leak of lead from an inverter. Little did the parents of the child know that the housemaid would spread the water dripping from the inverter with a cloth and spread it all over the ground and the child would play on the same floor?

 

According to UNICEF, lead stages in the blood of 41 million children in Pakistan are more than five micrograms per deciliter. This is a perturbing level according to World Health Organization standards.

Why are children at risk?

The report says that people below the age of five are most at risk because their brains can be injured so much before they are fully established that they can become mentally handicapped for all ages.

 

Experts say that children eat five times more food, fluids and air than grownups in percentage to their body weight.

 

"This means they can use the toxic even more if it is in the soil and air and in a residence where there are children," says Nicholas Race.

 

The report goes on to say that one of the major reasons of lead contact in children is that symptoms generally do not appear until they are older.