Lead

Lead is a naturally occurring, toxic metal. It is found in lead-based paint, contaminated soil, industrial activities, old pipes, ceramics etc. While lead has numerous, it poses serious health risks to humans. Exposure to lead can affect nearly every organ in body, causing severe health conditions and is especially harmful to children and pregnant women. Various jurisdictions have implemented measures to control and reduce lead exposure and poisoning.  In this article, you will learn what is lead, its sources, application, impacts of lead poisoning and efforts to curb lead poisoning. It is an important topic for GS Paper-3 Environment & Ecology of UPSC IAS Exam. To explore other interesting Environment & Ecology concepts similar to lead, check out other articles and notes of IASToppers.    

Table of Content

• What is Lead?
• Sources of Lead
• Uses of Lead
• Routes of exposure to lead
• Lead Poisoning Impacts
• Burden of Lead Poisoning
• Efforts against Poisoning of Lead
• Conclusion
• FAQs

What is Lead?

• Lead is a naturally occurring toxic metal found in the Earth’s crust.
• Despite its beneficial uses, lead can be toxic to humans and animals, causing adverse health effects. 
• It was recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the top 10 chemicals posing a significant threat to public health.

Sources of Lead

Lead can be found in all parts of our environment – the air, the soil, the water. Major sources of lead are as follows:

• Paint: Houses built prior to 1978 often contain lead-based paint. Its degradation, whether through peeling, chipping, cracking, or chalking, poses a health risk.
• Lead Dust: Hazardous Lead Dust is produced when lead-painted surfaces, like windows, doors, stair edges, or rails, experience continual friction or wear and tear.
• Soil Contamination: The soil around homes could be tainted with lead from deteriorating exterior lead-based paint.
• Industrial activities: While natural levels of lead in soil range between 50 and 400 parts per million, mining, smelting and refining activities have resulted in substantial increases in lead levels in the environment, especially near mining and smelting sites.
• Drinking Water: Homes built before 1930 may have lead pipes that release lead into the water supply.
• Food Contamination: Imported ceramic dishes or pottery may leach lead into food or beverages stored within them.
• Children’s jewellery and toys: Lead has been found in inexpensive children’s jewellery.
• Occupational Exposure: Parents employed in lead-related industries (like painting, automotive, or recycling) or those using lead for hobbies (e.g., stained glass windows) risk bringing lead into the home.
• Traditional Remedies: Certain traditional remedies, like aragon, greta, or pay-loo-ah, may contain lead.
• Cosmetics: Certain beauty products, including kohl or kajal, may be lead-based.
• Other sources: Some non-glossy, vinyl mini-blinds, Batteries, radiators for cars and trucks, and some colors of ink also contain lead.
• Recycling of Lead Acid Battery: Much of the lead in global commerce is now obtained from recycling from Lead Acid Battery. However, the risks of severe health hazard and environmental contamination are extremely high.

Uses of Lead

Lead is used in many products including:

• Pigments and Paints,
• Stained glass,
• Lead crystal glassware,
• Ammunition,
• Ceramic glazes,
• Lead-acid batteries, which power cars, generators, and renewable energy storage
• Jewellery and toys,
• Some cosmetics such as kohl and sindoor, and
• Traditional medicines used in countries such as India, Mexico and Viet Nam.

Routes of exposure to lead

Lead exposure can stem from work-related activities or environmental factors. Primary causes include:

• Inhalation of lead particulates produced from the burning of lead-containing materials such as during the processes of smelting, recycling, stripping lead-based paint, and using aviation fuel containing lead.
• Consuming lead-tainted dust, water (via lead pipes), and food (due to containers with lead-based glaze or solder).

Lead Poisoning Impacts

• Lead can have detrimental effects on almost every organ and system within the human body.
• Once it enters the body, lead disperses to various organs like the brain, kidneys, liver, and bones.
• Lead tends to accumulate in teeth and bones over a period, increasing its concentration within the body.

Impact of Lead on Children

• Children absorb nearly 4–5 times the amount of lead compared to adults from the same source.
• Exposure to lead-contaminated soil and dust, often from battery recycling and mining activities, has led to children death Nigeria and Senegal.

Even low levels of lead in the blood of children can result in:

• Behavior and learning problems
• Lower IQ and Hyperactivity
• Slowed growth
• Damage the brain and central nervous system
• Hearing Problems
• Reproductive organ toxicity
• Anemia
• Hypertension
• Increased antisocial behavior

In rare cases, ingestion of lead can cause seizures, coma and even death.

Impact of Lead on Pregnant Women

• Over time, lead gets stored in our bodies, mainly in bones along with calcium.
• During pregnancy, as calcium is released from the mother’s bones for the fetus, lead is also released, thus exposing the fetus or breastfeeding infant to lead.

This can result in serious effects to the developing fetus and infant, including:

• Premature birth or low birth weight
• Damage to the infant’s brain, kidneys, and nervous system
• Increased chances of learning or behavioral issues in the infant
• Put the mother at risk for miscarriage.

Impact of Lead on Other Adults

Lead exposure is harmful to all adults. Adverse effects include:

• Cardiovascular effects, increased blood pressure and incidence of hypertension;
• Decreased kidney function; and
• Reproductive issues in both genders.

Impact of Lead on Soil

Lead can contaminate soil in several ways:

• Industrial activities or spark-ignition engine planes release lead into the air which can travel considerable distances before settling to the ground, often sticking to soil particles.
• Depending on the specific lead compound and soil characteristics, lead can potentially seep from soil into groundwater.

Impacts of lead on water

• Some organisms like selfish and phytoplankton get poisoned by led even at small concentrations. Phytoplankton is an important source of oxygen production in the seas

Burden of Lead Poisoning

• As per World Health Organization (WHO), lead exposure was responsible for nearly 50% of the 2 million fatalities caused by known chemicals in 2019.
• It is responsible for the global loss of approximately 21.7 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). These DALYs are calculated considering both deaths and impairments due to chronic health conditions.
• Its exposure is responsible for about 30% of the global prevalence of idiopathic intellectual disability, an unexplained condition that affects cognitive abilities.
• It is linked to 4.6% of cardiovascular conditions worldwide.
• It contributes to about 3% chronic kidney diseases globally.

Efforts against Poisoning of Lead

Regulatory Measures for Lead Content Control

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India introduced a regulation termed “Regulation on Lead contents in Household and Decorative Paints Rules, 2016″.
• This decree disallows the production, commerce, importation, and exportation of household and decorative paints that contain lead or its derivatives exceeding 90 Parts Per Million (PPM).

Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint

• The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (Lead Paint Alliance) is a voluntary partnership formed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and The World Health Organization (WHO).
• This partnership is part of a project backed by the Global Environment Facility.
• Its goal is to assist at least 40 nations to impose legal restrictions on lead paint.

International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week

• An annual event known as the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) is observed in the third week of October.
• This initiative, now in its 10^th year, is the product of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, co-led by UNEP and WHO.

Protecting Every Child’s Potential (PECP)

• Protecting Every Child’s Potential (PECP) was launched in October 2020, by three organizations: Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation, and UNICEF.
• The central message of PECP is the importance of safeguarding children from lead exposure for their overall development and well-being of their communities.

Conclusion

Lead, a naturally occurring toxic metal, poses significant health risks to humans and the environment. Despite its widespread usage in various industries, its impact is severe, affecting multiple organ systems, developmental processes in children, and potentially leading to severe health complications. To curb lead poisoning, several global initiatives, regulatory measures, and public awareness programs are in place, focusing on eliminating lead-based products and mitigating lead exposure.

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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)