{"id":17334,"date":"2023-09-19T17:33:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/?p=17334"},"modified":"2023-09-19T17:34:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:04:00","slug":"lead-poisoning-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-09-2023\/lead-poisoning-2","title":{"rendered":"Lead Poisoning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS-2\/Health , GS-3\/Science and Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In News<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, a study published in <strong>\u2018The Lancet Planetary Health Journal\u2019 <\/strong>has highlighted the impacts of<strong> Lead Poisoning.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What is Lead?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lead (Pb)<\/strong> is in a <strong>bluish-white color<\/strong> and is <strong>soft and ductile metal.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a <strong>naturally occurring toxic metal<\/strong> found in the Earth\u2019s crust, whose widespread use has caused environmental contamination and health problems in many parts of the world.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What is Lead Poisoning?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lead poisoning is a serious health issue caused by the <strong>accumulation of lead in the body.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to a<strong> 2020 report by the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund and Pure Earth <\/strong>around <strong>one in three children <\/strong>worldwide record blood lead levels of over five \u03bcg\/dL.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Normal range of lead in blood <strong>for adults: <\/strong>less than 10 micrograms per deciliter (\u00b5g\/dL).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>For children:<\/strong> less than 5 \u00b5g\/dL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Countries with the highest burden are <strong>Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Peru, Vietnam, the Philippines and parts of Central Africa.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sources of Lead Poisoning<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Anthropogenic Sources<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mobilization of lead in raw materials such as fossil fuels and other extracted and treated ores and metals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Releases during the manufacture, use and disposal of products using lead (e.g. paint, batteries, toys).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Direct releases from waste to soil and aquatic environment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leaded gasoline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Natural Sources<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Volcanoes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Weathering of Rocks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Exudates from vegetation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Impacts of Lead Poisoning<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Impact on Humans:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Once lead enters the bloodstream, it goes directly to the brain because there is no specific blood-brain barrier to restrict its movement.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Low and Middle Income Countries are majorly affected, with children <strong>losing an average of 5.9 IQ.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It can harm young children\u2019s health by doing <strong>damage to the brain, slowed development and learning difficulties.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In adults, it can create a <strong>risk of cardiovascular diseases,chronic kidney diseases and learning disabilities.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>5.5 million<\/strong> died due to cardiovascular diseases caused by lead exposure in 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>During pregnancy, if the mother consumes lead, there is no placental barrier, so the lead is transferred to the fetus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Environmental Impact:&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It can also lead to losses in biodiversity, changes in community composition, decreased growth and low reproductive rates in plants and animals, and neurological effects in vertebrates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Lead Poisoning in India<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The affected states are <strong>Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh<\/strong> accounting for <strong>40% <\/strong>of the population with high blood lead levels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lead toxicity in India contributes to <strong>4.6 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and 165,000 deaths annually.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Government Initiatives<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Programme for Prevention and Control of Fluorosis, Endemic Skeletal Fluorosis and Arsenicosis: <\/strong>It was launched in 2010 to take measures to prevent lead poisoning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Health Mission (NHM): <\/strong>It was initiated by the government to provide comprehensive healthcare services, including screening for lead poisoning and treatment for affected individuals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lead Battery Waste Management Rules, 2016: <\/strong>It was formulated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to regulate the disposal of lead-acid batteries and promote their recycling in an environmentally safe manner.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE):<\/strong> It was launched by the government to provide healthcare services to the elderly population, who are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Center for Advanced Research on Environmental Health (CAREH) : <\/strong>It was established by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct research on environmental health issues, including lead poisoning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/news\/health\/lead-exposure-led-to-30-global-cardiovascular-deaths-in-2019-91783\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syllabus: GS-2\/Health , GS-3\/Science and Technology In News What is Lead? What is Lead Poisoning? Sources of Lead Poisoning Impacts of Lead Poisoning Lead Poisoning in India Government Initiatives Source: DTE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17335,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17334\/revisions\/17335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}