M9.4 Heavy metals

What I find most interesting about the Needlemen lead article is that is caused the following: ADHD, aggression, and delinquency among children. For adults, lead poisoning over time lead to an increase in Alzheimer's risk. What also stands out to me is that lead poisoning or at least the concern that it could cause issues occurred in Australia back in 1892. It took almost 100 years to ban lead in paint as it was as a known metal exposure to humans.

The Nigeria article shocked me that this still occurs. Well, maybe not. Social injustice occurs all over the world and until something like this happens it does not get fixed unfortunately. Quite staggering numbers to have that many children die so young. I am very happy that MSF was able to treat the remaining sick children and bring the serum levels back to a healthier level. Hopefully, the gold artisanal ore processing company was heavily find or covered the cost for the healthcare.

Comments

  1. Sandy TanOctober 26, 2018 at 10:56 AM

    Hi Dan,
    I was also surprised to learn that concerns about lead poisoning occurred during the 1800s, yet it took so long for humans to start banning lead. I thought lead would be banned right away as soon as health issues occurred. I agree that it is unfortunate that health issues have to have occurred and people dying before there is any action. We really need to value more about preventative health when it comes to protecting the public health, not just alleviating the issue once it already happened.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 31, 2018 at 12:21 AM

    Hi Dan,
    I was also shocked at how long it took for authorities to take action against the use of lead even though the harmful effects were already known for such a long time. Imagine all the people affected by it during all that time because of the authorities' failure to act.

    ReplyDelete

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