Turmeric adulterated with lead chromate pigment has been previously identified as a primary source of lead exposure in Bangladesh. This study assesses the impact of a multi-faceted intervention between 2017 and 2021 to reduce lead-tainted turmeric in Bangladesh. The intervention involved: i) disseminating findings from scientific studies via news media that identified turmeric as a source of lead poisoning, ii) educating consumers and businesspeople about the risks of lead chromate in turmeric via public notices and face-to-face meetings, and iii) collaborating with the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority to utilize a rapid lead detection technology to enforce policy disallowing turmeric adulteration. Before and after the intervention, evidence of lead chromate turmeric adulteration was assessed at the nation’s largest turmeric wholesale market and at turmeric polishing mills across the country. Blood lead levels of workers at two mills were also assessed. Forty-seven interviews were conducted with consumers, businesspeople, and government officials to assess changes in supply, demand, and regulatory capacity. The proportion of market turmeric samples containing detectable lead decreased from 47% preintervention in 2019 to 0% in 2021 (n = 631, p < 0.0001). The proportion of mills with direct evidence of lead chromate adulteration (pigment on-site) decreased from 30% pre-intervention in 2017 to 0% in 2021 (n =33, p < 0.0001). Blood lead levels dropped a median of 30% (IQR: 21–43%), while the 90th percentile dropped 49% from 18.2 μg/dL to 9.2 μg/dL 16 months after the intervention (n = 15, p = 0.033). Media attention,
credible information, rapid lead detection tools and swift government action to enforce penalties all contributed to the ntervention’s success. Subsequent efforts should evaluate if this is an example of an effective intervention that can be replicated to reduce lead chromate adulteration of spices globally
Summary Background Lead exposure is a worldwide health risk despite substantial declines in blood lead levels following the leaded gasoline phase-out. For the first time, to our knowledge, we aimed to estimate the global burden and cost of intelligence quotient (IQ) loss and cardiovascular disease mortality from lead exposure. Methods In this modelling study, we used country blood lead level estimates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. We estimated IQ loss (presented as estimated loss in IQ points with 95% CIs) in the global population of children younger than 5 years using the blood lead level–IQ loss function from an international pooled analysis. We estimated the cost of IQ loss, which was calculated only for the proportion of children expected to enter the labour force, as the present value of loss in lifetime income from the IQ loss (presented as cost in US dollars and percentage of gross domestic product with a range). We estimated cardiovascular deaths (with 95% CIs) due to lead exposure among people aged 25 years or older using a health impact model that captures the effect of lead exposure on cardiovascular disease mortality that is mediated through mechanisms other than hypertension. Finally, we used values of statistical life to estimate the welfare cost of premature mortality (presented as cost in US dollars and percentage of GDP). All estimates were calculated by World Bank income classification and region (for low-income and middle-income countries [LMICs] only) for 2019. Findings We estimated that children younger than 5 years lost 765 million (95% CI 443–1098) IQ points and that 5545000 (2 305 000–8 271 000) adults died from cardiovascular disease in 2019 due to lead exposure. 729 million of the IQ points lost (95·3% of the total global IQ loss) and 5 004000 (90·2% of total) cardiovascular disease deaths due to lead exposure occurred in LMICs. IQ loss in LMICs was nearly 80% higher than a previous estimate. Cardiovascular disease deaths were six times higher than the GBD 2019 estimate. The global cost of lead exposure was US$6·0 trillion (range 2·6–9·0) in 2019, which was equivalent to 6·9% (3·1–10·4) of the global gross domestic product. 77% (range 70–78) of the cost was the welfare cost of cardiovascular disease mortality, and 23% (22–30) was the present value of future income losses from IQ loss. Interpretation Our findings suggest that global lead exposure has health and economic costs at par with PM2∙5 air pollution. However, much work remains to improve the quality of blood lead level measurement data, especially in LMICs. Funding The Korea Green Growth Trust Fund and the World Bank’s Pollution Management and Environmental Health Program
Abstract – Heavy metal contamination of the groundwater in Guwahati city was assessed for their Cd, Pb, Fe and As contents. 27 groundwater samples were analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer and the levels of the four heavy metals were compared to the WHO specified maximum contaminant levels. According to WHO, the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for Cd is 0.003 mg/L, while for Pb and As are both 0.01 mg/L (or 10 g/L), and for Fe permissible limit is 0.3 mg/L. From the results obtained, it was found that out of the 81.48 samples where Cd was present, all of them had Cd content above MCL. Out of the 100 samples where Pb was present, only 22.22 samples had Pb content just within MCL in the wet season, and only 7.4 within MCL in the dry season. Only one sample had Pb content below MCL in the dry season. 62.96 samples had Fe content above the WHO permissible limit in wet season, while 92.59 had it above the limit in dry season. Out of the 70.37 samples that had As content presentin wet season and 81.48 in dry season, all of the values were found to be below MCL in both seasons. The results obtained from this study indicate a significant risk to the population given how long term exposure to these metals even in low quantities can affect their health, and since for majority, groundwater is the most widely used and reliable source of water supply in the area. Key Words: Heavy metals, Groundwater contamination, Maximum Contaminant Level, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry, WHO.
Abstract: The study investigates heavy metal contamination in 100 turmeric powder samples from Mathura markets. Around 30% of the samples were adulterated, particularly with lead and chromium exceeding permissible limits. Adulteration poses significant health risks, emphasizing the need for strict quality control and consumer awareness regarding unpackaged or loose spices.
Abstract The study of heavy metal (HMs) contamination of environment is of great interest due to their serious health hazard. In this work, the contamination of tree leaves with the HMs in the most polluted industrial city, Korba, India is described. The leaves of common trees i.e. Azadirachta indica, Butea monosperma, Eucalyptus, Ficus religiosa, Mangifera indica and Tectona grandis were selected for assessment of the HMs contamination as bioindicator. The elevated concentration of HMs (i.e. As, Fe, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Hg) in the tree leaves was observed, ranging from 2.8 – 43, 728 – 5182, 8.6 – 49, 48 – 1196, 43 – 406, 79 – 360, 1.12 – 1.65, 1.6 – 16.4 and 0.13 – 0.76 mg/kg, respectively. The concentration, enrichment and sources of the HMs in the leaves are described. Azadirachta indica leaves, accumulating higher concentration of the HMs, showed a higher efficiency as bioindicator for the urban pollution. Keywords Heavy Metal, Soil, Tree Leaf, Bioindicator, India
Abstract. Peri-urban lands are often used for production of vegetables for better market accessibility and higher prices. But most of these lands are contaminated with heavy metals through industrial effluents, sewage and sludge, and vehicular emission. Vegetables grown in such lands, therefore, are likely to be contaminated with heavy metals and unsafe for consumption. Samples of vegetables i.e., spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.); soil and irrigation water were collected from 5 peri-urban sites of New Delhi to monitor their heavy metal loads. While heavy metal load of the soils were below the maximum allowable limit prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was higher in irrigation water and vegetable samples. The spinach and okra samples showed Zn, Pb and Cd levels higher than the WHO limits. The levels of Cu, however, were at their safe limits. Metal contamination was higher in spinach than in okra. Spatial variability of metal contamination was also observed in the study. Bio-availability of metals present in soil showed a positive relationship with their total content and organic matter content of soil but no relationship was observed with soil pH. Washing of vegetables with clean water was a very effective and easy way of decontaminating the metal pollution as it reduced the contamination by 75 to 100%. Keywords: bio-availability, contamination, heavy metals, okra, safe limits, spinach
Mining, manufacturing, industrialization and the use of synthetic products have resulted in heavy metal contamination of all the segments of environment. Due to their non-biodegradability, it is very difficult to eliminate metals from the environment. Their sources can be categorized as natural and anthropogenic activities. Natural sources are seepage and weathering from rocks, volcanic activity and forest fires. Some of the heavy metals like Cr, Cd, Se, Pb, As, Hg, Cu, Co, Ni and Zn are of severe concern for the
researchers in terms of their environmental load and health effects. Several scientific groups, chemical engineers, and environmentalists are making several attempts for minimizing the effects caused by excessive release of heavy metals in the environment and on human being.
Therefore, different remediation technologies such as phytoremediation, adsorption, ion-exchange, coagulation, precipitation, flocculation, ultra-filtration and electrochemical methods have been developed and applied for the scavenging of the toxic metals. In the present chapter, a thorough discussion about the sources, adverse impacts on living beings as well as on environment and the remediation technologies of heavy metals have been systematically compiled.Keywords: Heavy metals, Toxicity, Environmental fate, Adsorption, Remediation
ABSTRACT Around half of children in low-income countries have elevated blood lead levels. What role does lead play in explaining low educational outcomes in these settings? We conduct a new systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies on the relationship between lead exposure and learning outcomes. Adjusting for observable confounds and publication bias yields a benchmark estimate of a 0.12 standard deviation reduction in learning per natural log unit of blood lead. As all estimates are non-experimental, we present evidence on the likely magnitude of unobserved confounding, and summarize results from a smaller set of natural experiments. Our benchmark estimate accounts for over a fifth of the gap in learning outcomes between rich and poor countries, and implies moderate learning gains from targeted interventions for highly exposed groups (≈ 0.1 standard deviations) and modest learning gains (< 0.05 standard deviations) from broader public health campaigns. WORKING PAPER 650 · JULY 2023 KEYWORDS Lead Poisoning, Child Education, Developing Countries
ABSTRACT
The insufficiency of primary lead sources to satisfy the demand makes the recycling of used batteries necessary. This study quantitatively assesses the impact of different policy instruments on reducing lead pollution from lead-acid battery (LAB) recycling. We develop a system dynamics model to analyze the dynamics of LAB recycling considering remanufactures and recyclers spanning formal and informal sectors in the Indian context. We model the competition between the formal and informal sectors in both recycling and remanufacturing settings in the lead recovery process. We test our model with the data from the Indian automobile LAB recycling and
investigate the impact of policy decisions on the performance of the automobile LAB recycling. This study explores three policies in anticipation of improving the efficiency of the recycling process—(i) reduce tax on regulated recyclers, (ii) offer subsidy to regulated recyclers, and (iii) offer subsidy to formal battery remanufactures. Our results show that the first two policies help the business shift from informal to formal sector which results in lowering the lead pollution. We observe that providing subsidy on formal battery can reduce the amount of lead excretion; however, a very high subsidy can lead to the shutting down of both regulated and unregulated recycling sectors.
Childhood lead exposure remains a key health concern for officials worldwide, contributing some 600,000 new cases of intellectually disabled children annually. Most children affected by high exposure to lead live in low- and middle-income countries. The leaded gasoline phase out in India was completed in 2000. Yet, in 2020, an estimated 275 million children aged 0 to 9 years had blood lead levels (BLLs) � 5 μg/dL known to adversely affect intelligence and behavior. Lead sources reported in India include spices, cookware, paint, traditional medicines and cosmetics, and lead-acid battery recycling and repair. However, their relative contribution has not been characterized. More than 200 lead pollution sites relatedto battery recycling and repair activities were identified in Bihar and Jharkhand, India. Ninetypercent of the recycling sites had soil lead concentrations exceeding the US
