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Costa Rica's Unleaded Air |
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By Néfer Muñoz*
Good
news: tests show that Costa Rican children have very little lead
in their blood, thanks to policies enacted since 1995 to eradicate
the heavy metal.
SAN JOSE - Children under age 11 in Costa Rica
have very low levels of lead in their blood, largely due to the
elimination of the heavy metal from the production of gasoline and
food containers through laws enacted over the last seven years,
says a recent study to which Tierramérica had exclusive access.
Scientist Martha Sánchez conducted tests last year of 100
Costa Rican children chosen from a cross-section of urban and rural
areas. The results show an average of 0.8 micrograms of lead per
deciliter of blood (ug/dl), far below the maximum established by
the World Health Organization (WHO) of 10 ug/dl.
"This finding is good news for public health in Latin America,"
Sánchez said in a conversation with Tierramérica.
If action is taken to eliminate lead, the child population runs
lesser risk of suffering the effects of lead poisoning, such as
chronic anemia, neurological damage, stunted growth, deafness and
altered behavior.
The last phase of the study "Pattern of Declining Lead in
the Blood of the Costa Rican Population" was entrusted to Sánchez
by the Public Health Ministry in order to present the final results
to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
In 1994, Costa Rica began the gradual elimination of lead from
the production of fuels, and the next year, banned leaded gasoline.
Shortly after, the government began regulating the use of the metal
in industrial products, such as paints, and ordered a ban in the
use of lead in food containers, primarily in solders of canned goods.
Sánchez's studies prove that the population of this Central
American country experienced a dramatic reduction of lead in the
blood over recent years.
In 1986, on her own initiative, Sánchez conducted tests
of 180 adults in the general population and 100 workers who are
exposed to lead on the job (in battery factories, jewelers, printers),
and came up with a national average of 17 ug/dl. Ten years later,
the average fell to 3.8 ug/dl.
In 1996, blood tests were taken of 323 adults from the general
population and 100 adults regularly exposed to vehicle exhaust (street
vendors, bus drivers), in a study sponsored by ProEco and Swiss
Contact.
Lead concentration in the blood decreased throughout the population,
even among people with close contact to vehicle exhaust, states
the study.
"This decline coincides with the lead-eradication campaign,"
says Sánchez, who collected and studied data at the San Juan
de Dios public hospital, where she is chief of clinical laboratory
research.
"Our major conclusion is the elimination of lead improved
the quality of life," said the expert, whose work will be published
by a Mexican journal on public health.
According to the research, there are only a few social groups in
Costa Rica that continue to suffer the effects of overexposure to
lead, such as individuals who work directly in the manufacture of
vehicle batteries.
* Néfer Muñoz is an IPS correspondent.
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