Heavy Metals

After reading the article about the history of lead poisoning, I have a better understand of what lead can do to our body. I learned that lead can affect the peripheral and central nervous system, the kidneys, and blood pressure. Lead can also affect the reproductive system. It’s scary to know that children are more vulnerable than adults to lead exposure because of their hand-to-mouth activity. The article mentioned that children with high level of lead in their body had reading disabilities and lower IQ. Although lead has been banned from paint, some old houses were painted with leaded paint. The article about the severe outbreak of childhood lead poisoning in Nigeria is really an eye-opener about the serious health effect of lead, especially to children. I learned that an outbreak of lead poisoning affected more than 400 children who are 5 years old and younger in 2010. I like that everyone worked together to provide a lead safe environment. It is definitely important to start with the source of lead in order to reduce lead poisoning and stop it from happening again. I learned that they responded by taking out the contaminated materials out of their village. In addition, I also like the campaign to sustain lead-free villages. I agree that local government and organizations were important to the project’s success. Overall, I think the government should be stricter with manufacturers and stop them from using lead in their products so an outbreak of lead poisoning will not happen in the first place.