2023-09-12 15:03:58
Health Toxic heavy metal
The terrible consequences of lead exposure
Status: 22.09.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Lead in the blood often comes from the bones, where the heavy metal accumulates
Quelle: Getty Images/Stefania Pelfini, La Waziya Photography
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Lead is one of the most toxic chemicals. A high level of exposure is seriously damaging to health. Researchers are now presenting worrying data: in poorer countries, many people are dying because of this. And children’s intelligence is also affected.
According to new estimates, especially in poorer countries, several million people die every year as a result of high levels of lead exposure. In addition, such contamination caused children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to lose an average of almost six IQ points in their first five years of life, World Bank researchers write in the journal „The Lancet Planetary Health“. The damage is therefore significantly greater than previously assumed.
The WHO lists lead in its List of ten chemicals, which pose a major threat to the health of the general population. The toxic heavy metal accumulates in bones, muscles and the brain. It can damage the cardiovascular system, kidneys and nervous system, among other things. Lead can cause serious, permanent neurological damage, particularly in children.
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The two World Bank researchers Bjorn Larsen and Ernesto Sánchez-Triana write that lead contamination has reduced significantly globally since leaded gasoline was gradually banned. However, people can still be exposed to high levels of lead, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The list of potential sources of lead is long: it includes food, mining, leaded paint, toys, cosmetic products, electronic waste and fertilizers.
The researchers assume that around 5.5 million adults died from lead-related cardiovascular diseases alone in 2019 – primarily in LMICs. The two scientists also estimate that people’s income is 12 percent lower over their entire lives due to their lower IQ.
Larsen and Sánchez-Triana estimate the economic damage caused by lead contamination around the globe at six trillion dollars in 2019 – which, according to them, corresponds to around seven percent of global economic output at that time. Three quarters (77 percent) of these enormous costs arise as a result of cardiovascular diseases, while the remaining quarter (23 percent) are due to loss of income due to neurological damage.
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The researchers emphasize that lead contamination must decrease as quickly as possible. To do this, however, we would need to know better where exactly the lead that people ingest comes from – and how contaminated people in certain regions actually are. Scientists are also calling for effective laws to reduce lead pollution.
The researchers’ calculations are based on models that assume certain lead concentrations in people’s blood depending on the region. Accordingly, the average lead concentration in the blood in emerging and developing countries (46 micrograms per liter) is more than three times higher than in industrialized nations (13 micrograms per liter). For comparison: In a decades-long series of measurements among students in Münster, the lead concentration in the blood per liter fell from a good 77 micrograms in 1985 to under 9 micrograms in 2021.
The researchers also address weaknesses in their study. It is difficult to accurately estimate the lead concentration in the blood of people around the world.
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