Home ›› 26 Oct 2022 ›› Back
A recent study conducted on 500 children in the capital this year has found 100 per cent of the respondents affected by lead poisoning.
The study report was presented by Dr Md Mahbubur Rahman, Lead and Project Coordinator (Environment Intervention) of icddr,b at a seminar organised by UNICEF Bangladesh in the capital yesterday afternoon.
Dr Md Mahbubur Rahman said the study conducted on 500 children aged between 24 to 48 months in the capital by icddr,b team had identified lead in blood in all of them.
The seminar discussed findings of UNICEF-supported study on the prevalence of lead poisoning, its impact on children and how to stop lead poisoning.
Another keynote speaker at the seminar Dr Nawroz Afreen, Senior Scientific Officer(SSO) of IEDCR, quoting another study ‘Blood lead levels among children under 18 years in four districts’ conducted in July to September this year stated the same result.
The second study also found lead poisoning in the bodies of all the children on whom the study was carried out.
As many as 980 children aged between one to 18 years - 531 boys and 449 girls - were respondents in the study.
About 65 per cent children had blood lead level above US CDC reference value (<3.5 µg/dL) for which interventions are needed, she added.
Another study on lead in paint conducted by ESDO was discussed in the seminar where it was showed that among the samples analysed 30.8 per cent contained high lead content (ranging from 90ppm to 250ppm).
The remaining 69.2 per cent of decorative paints contain less than 90ppm of lead. A devastating scenario has been identified for industrial paints as high lead content was detected in 50 per cent of the samples.
Industrial paints in orange colors contain the highest levels of lead at 97,000 parts per million, the recent study found.
In 2021, the percentage of high lead-contained paint was reduced to 31 per cent (out of 63 samples). In the current study, it was reduced to 26 per cent (out of 63 samples).
As a result, many paint manufacturers have already formulated their paints to eliminate lead.
Arun Mitra, General Secretary of Bangladesh Paint Manufacturer’s Association (BPMA), urged the government to reduce taxes on importing lead-free raw materials.
He also urged the government to close all unregistered paint manufacturers in the country who are not associated with BPMA.
Prof Robed Amin, Line Director (Non Communicable Disease Control) under the Health Directorate, said, “Along with children pregnant mother should not be forgotten as all of us are highly exposed to lead pollution.”
At the programme Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md Shahab Uddin said the government was taking initiatives to save people from lead pollution.
The Department of Environment frequently conducts drives against illegal battery manufacturing and recycling activities. However, only drives may not bring desired result. “We need massive awareness,” he added.
Director (Finance) of the Health Directorate Professor Dr Aminul Islam chaired the seminar while Executive Director of icddr,b Dr Shams El Arifeen and representative of UNICEF Bangladesh Sheldon Yett delivered speech as special guests.
Mahfuzur Rahman, Country Director of Pure Earth, was among other representatives from different ministries, departments, NGOs and development partners.
