By: Dr. Shukrullah Ahmadi
Lead is major pollutant in the form of a heavy metal in many developing countries particularly Afghanistan. Its exposure in children is a major public health problem as it causes long-term neurocognitive deficits in addition to other health problems. Lead also affects negatively almost every body system, including the cardiovascular, renal, endocrine, digestive, immune (body defenses) and reproductive systems. This is probably one of the reasons, why it is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally with a particular burden in low-income countries.
Over the past five to six decades, lead has exponentially found its use in many industrial, household, agricultural and daily life applications. For example, lead has been widely used in paints, dyes, water pipes, batteries, pottery, ceramics, and gasoline. Lead has also found its usability in daily life products including cosmetics, hair dyes, children’s toys, and traditional remedies. The ban of lead in many commercial products, including leaded gasoline in many developed countries including in the United States and several European countries, since the late 1970s resulted in major declines in blood lead levels of children in these regions. However, the extensive use of lead in formal and informal activity in many low-income countries must have caused extensive human exposure, possibly due to weak regulatory controls. For instance, informal mining and smelting of ore, production and use of lead-containing pesticides, burning of coal and oil, and burning of urban waste are major sources of exposure that requires attention of authorities.
Therefore, lead exposure continues to affect children globally and particularly in low-income countries particularly in Afghanistan.
There is no safe threshold or normal blood lead level in children as lead serves no good function in human body, it only causes harm. However, health authorities in developed countries has set 35 μg/L to identify children at risk of toxicity and for considering medical and public health interventions. On the contrast, it is interesting to note that growing medical research indicate that blood lead levels even lower than 35 μg/L is associated with health outcomes particularly poor cognitive outcomes and behavioral problems in children.
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