Docs worry over kids’ exposure to lead

Pediatricians are raising the alarm over the susceptibility to lead exposure of Filipino children—a condition that could diminish their brain power—with the steadily increasing use of the heavy metal in consumer products.

“Lead should not be in our system,” Dr. Visitacion Antonio, a toxicologist at the East Avenue Medical Center, told a forum last week, “Mislead: Lead Contamination in Children,” organized by the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS).

Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of Occupational Knowledge International and public health consultant to the Ecowaste Coalition described lead as the “most significant environmental health threat.”

A World Health Organization (WHO) report has found that some 120 million people are overexposed to lead—99 percent of them in developing countries.

Alternative ingredients

Gottesfeld cited the growth of the sales in the Asia-Pacific region of lead-tainted paint, commonly used in houses, schools and day-care facilities.

This means that children are 10 times more likely to be exposed to lead through dust and 20 times more susceptible to poisoning from the heavy metal in their own homes.

Gottesfeld called on paint companies to reformulate their products and stop adding lead, pointing out that there are alternatives they could use as an ingredient.

According to Antonio, majority of those affected by lead poisoning or elevated blood lead levels are children aged 6 years old and younger.

Children are most susceptible to lead poisoning because they basically, “drink more water, eat more food and take in more air,” she said.

‘Hand-to-mouth’ activity

Most children are prone to “hand-to-mouth” activity which result in their ingestion of lead-tainted paint chips or even dust, Antonio said.

Lead poisoning is critical, particularly when children are exposed to the heavy metal in their brain-development stage, she said.

“Our concern is the neurologic effect of lead. It affects the brain, thus the performance of children in school, their growth and development, and their hearing. At levels more than 70 micrograms per deciliter, they may even develop encephalopathy,” Antonio said, stressing that there is no safe level of lead exposure for children.

Encephalopathy is a syndrome which may involve permanent and degenerative brain damage caused by direct injury to the brain or a remote illness in other parts of the body. It may be reversible when caused by nutritional deficiency or toxins.