Bangalore to host World Bank conference on lead poisoning
WASHINGTON, Jan 17: The World Bank, in cooperation with three American organisations, is co-sponsoring an International Conference on Lead Poisoning Prevention and Treatment in Bangalore next month, reports IANS.
The three-day conference, which begins on February 8, is devoted to examining the most widespread environmental pollutant affecting the health and well-being of two-thirds of the world's children in urban environments. The conference is being co-sponsored by George Foundation, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection.
"Never before have there been so many experts from around the world gathered together to examine the problem of lead poisoning and to find solutions to address it," says Abraham George, managing trustee of the George Foundation, a non-profit trust.
The conference will provide a forum for policy-makers, scientists, health and environmental specialists and representatives of international groups and non-governmental organisations to discuss the formulation of national lead poisoning prevention programmes for India and other developing countries and to improve programmes that already exist in some nations.
More than 300 participants are expected to attend the event. The conference is also co-organised by the Indian ministries of Environment and Forests and Health, the World Health Organisation, Johns Hopkins University (U.S.), and the Friends of Lead-Free Children, U.S.
The Bank says lead occurs naturally in the earth's crust. When ingested, inhaled or absorbed through skin, it is highly toxic to human being. Lead is not biodegradable. It persists in the soil, in the air, in drinking water and in homes. It never disappears, only accumulates where it is deposited and can poison generations of children and adults unless properly removed.
There is no level of lead in blood which can be considered safe or normal. At high levels, lead poisoning causes coma, convulsions and even death. Exposure to extremely small amounts can have long-term measurable effects in children while causing no distinctive symptoms.
Lead causes anaemia in both children and adults by impairing the formation of oxygen-carrying molecules, beginning at low levels of exposure. In adults, small but significant increases in blood pressure result from extremely low exposure levels with no evidence of a threshold below which lead does not affect blood pressure. Other adverse effects in adults include kidney disease and impaired fertility. Hypertension caused by lead exposure contributes to thousands of deaths every year, particularly among men between the ages of 35 and 50.
Worldwide, six sources appear to account for most lead exposure: Gasoline additives, food can soldering, lead-based paints, ceramic glazes, drinking water systems and cosmetic and folk remedies.
Other significant exposures result from inadequately controlled industrial emissions from such operations as lead smelters and battery recycling plants which contaminate environments and people in the surrounding areas. The highest level of environmental contamination is found to be associated with uncontrolled recycling operations and the most highly exposed adults are those who work with lead.
Comments