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WHO urges countries to protect children from lead poisoning
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to strengthen national actions to eliminate lead paint
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to strengthen national actions to eliminate lead paint.
Lead poisoning has devastating health consequences particularly for children. Childhood lead exposure contributes to an estimated 600,000 new cases of children with intellectual disabilities every year.
WHO said during International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action that overall, 99 percent of children affected by high lead exposure lived in low- and middle-income countries.
'Lead poisoning remains one of the most important environmental health concerns for children globally, and lead paint is a major flashpoint for children's potential lead poisoning,' said WHO Director for Public Health and Environment Maria Neira in an official release made available to The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
It is estimated that lead poisoning causes 143,000 deaths per year and lead paint is a major contributor to this.
WHO has identified lead as one of ten chemicals that poses major public health concerns and has required its member states to protect the health of workers, children and women of reproductive age.
The actions include adopting regulations and procedures to eliminate the use of lead decorative paints and providing information to the public on home renovations where lead paint may have already been applied.
'Paints with extremely high levels of lead are still available in most of the developing countries where paint testing has been conducted as part of efforts of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint,' said UNEP DTIE Chemicals Branch deputy director David Piper.
He said that in most countries where lead paint was still available, equivalent paint with no added lead was also available, suggesting that alternatives to lead were already available to manufacturers.
Globally, 30 countries have already phased out the use of lead paint. (ebf)
