Title
Review of Lead Toxicity in the Environment: A Silent Pandemic in Urban Cities of Developing Countries
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
27-4-2019 8:45 AM
End Date
27-4-2019 9:24 AM
Abstract
Lead is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in the environment. It is widely used as a component in some manufacturing processes and products like lead based paints, fuels and batteries. Despite its versatile uses, the toxic impacts of lead exposure on human health cannot be undermined. According to the World Health Organisation, adverse impacts of lead exposure include poor brain development in children, high risk of renal disease and hypertension in adults and pregnancy loss, preterm births among other pregnancy related issues for expectant mothers. In developed countries, there are stringent regulations and in most cases, outright ban of the use of lead related products. However, the situation is different in developing countries. The probable cause of this disparity may be because developing nations do not have effective regulations necessary to address the lead toxicity issue. Poor regulation in itself is a key part of this problem but these countries are also faced other possible contributing factors such as rapid urbanisation, uncontrolled population growth, poor electronic waste management, among others. This review paper aims to assess the extent of the impacts of lead toxicity in the urban cities of fast growing developing countries. It would serve as a precursor to a case study research that measures the degree of the impact of lead toxicity to the most vulnerable member of society, which are children.
Keywords: Lead toxicity, developing countries, public health.
Review of Lead Toxicity in the Environment: A Silent Pandemic in Urban Cities of Developing Countries
Lead is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in the environment. It is widely used as a component in some manufacturing processes and products like lead based paints, fuels and batteries. Despite its versatile uses, the toxic impacts of lead exposure on human health cannot be undermined. According to the World Health Organisation, adverse impacts of lead exposure include poor brain development in children, high risk of renal disease and hypertension in adults and pregnancy loss, preterm births among other pregnancy related issues for expectant mothers. In developed countries, there are stringent regulations and in most cases, outright ban of the use of lead related products. However, the situation is different in developing countries. The probable cause of this disparity may be because developing nations do not have effective regulations necessary to address the lead toxicity issue. Poor regulation in itself is a key part of this problem but these countries are also faced other possible contributing factors such as rapid urbanisation, uncontrolled population growth, poor electronic waste management, among others. This review paper aims to assess the extent of the impacts of lead toxicity in the urban cities of fast growing developing countries. It would serve as a precursor to a case study research that measures the degree of the impact of lead toxicity to the most vulnerable member of society, which are children.
Keywords: Lead toxicity, developing countries, public health.