By Dr. Iqbal Saeed Khan, Addl. Secretary & Provincial Coordinator Social Deptt., Govt of Sindh, Former DG/Director EPA Sindh, Karachi
Lead is a heavy metal and used in a number of industries including lead storage batteries, widely used in paint industries, to some extent still used with petrol, and may be present in drinking water. Its a potent environmental toxin. Either industrial pollution or by natural or accidental pollution, lead is used in soldering, circuit boards, in mining process etc.
Lead poisoning can be by way of water contamination or by soil pollution or by way of fumes.
Lead is a proven pollutant which may lead to its immediate toxic effects or delayed toxic impacts.
We have observed that 600 children and many adults and aged people are hospitalized in china due to acute lead poisoning how most of them are being recovered due to early diagnosis and immediate resuscitation.
Lead is specially very toxic to children even in little concentrations. It retards and delay the growth and arrest brain development. Lead exercise a chronic toxic effects on humans animals, microorganisms and plants. However considering state of health and concentration it may be fatal to any human irrespective of sex or age.
Lead damages the central nervous system, peripheral nerves, blood, bones, kidneys etc.
Lead is cumulative poison and it concentration builds up in tissues of human subjects (so in aquatic and terrestrial animals) and this process of bio-accumulation finally reaches to a threshold where it manifest it symptoms.
Primarily lead and its compounds disrupts various metabolic process by disrupting enzyme system of human body whereas most of its accumulation occurs in bones discarded electronics in improper way is of great concern in Pakistan and its on rise due to more use of electronic gadgets and owing to absence any proper landfill site in Pakistan. As most of such waste either burnt leading to toxic fumes or its left at mercy of nature in pits so called landfilled where lead and other pollutants reaches to water bodies/recourses an hence source of in toxication also where old paint is chipped off slowly there lead in air and sometimes easily eaten away by children and house hold women more likely to be sufferers of such Type of slow lead poisoning Reproductive systems, immune systems became worst sufferers in any age group. A few years batch lead was noticed in comparatively larger amounts in malir rivers most probably by industrial discharges and from the sources where old waste is dismantled.
Lead poisoning is commonly called because of its manifestation as plumbism, saturnism, devons colic painters colic etc. The word plumbism signifies that this disease was rampant in plumbers who use to work with lead pipe lines. Mainly began in ancient rome where the lead pipes for water supply was used and it narrated in history that one of the cause of fall of roman empire was lead toxicity which lead their intellectual decline.
A recent incident in china where people living around smelting industry suffered by water pollution and initially 600 children were hospitalized and treated. In fact, lead virtually affect adversely every system of body specially when chronic in chronic poisoning. If children are exposed to long time they experience learning disabilities, behaviour problems, mental retardation, fits etc. As the paint our waters possess lead but the proportions are not known.