Lead in the Americas A Call for Action (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3 Session D: Case Studies of Interventions
3 Session D: Case Studies of Interventions
Pages 91-116
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 91... ...
SESSION D Case Studies of Interventions
|
From page 93... ...
The second presents an example of government regulation in this instance, the U.S. Clean Air Act—that dramatically reduced population lead levels in the United States.
|
From page 94... ...
Mexican public health authorities are now interested in determining whether a quantifiable reduction in population blood lead levels, especially in children, has occurred as a result of this voluntary industry change. The National Chamber for Metallic Containers of Mexico represents more than 85 percent of steel tin can and 100 percent of aluminum tin can production, making it the leading manufacturer of metallic containers in Mexico.
|
From page 95... ...
The metallic container industries became involved in this movement, along with other lead industries. As an outcome, ecologists, united with health authorities, insisted that the electrical soldering substitution process that had been under way for over 10 years be abruptly accelerated.
|
From page 96... ...
Health authorities, pressured by ecologists, continued to demand immediate conversion to electrical soldering. This activity culminated in the 5 July 1991 signing of the "Actions for the integral Solution of the Problems Related to Lead Content in Products that Could Constitute a Risk for Health and Ecosystems" in Mexico City.
|
From page 97... ...
Helped by a loan of $35 million, our industry had fulfilled its commitment to change to lead-free soldering in the ~ ~ months accorded us. One aspect of Mexico's experience that was not given the attention it deserved was the unfilled need for assistance to workers who had been poisoned through occupational exposure to the lead soldering process.
|
From page 98... ...
Auto manufacturers were required to design and build vehicles that could operate on unleaded fuels or Tow-lead fuels, and a schedule was set for the reduction of lead levels in leaded fuels. Before the Clean Air Act, the EPA had strong concerns about the potentially harmful effects of lead, but was unable to persuade the scientific community or industry that airborne lead represented a health hazard outside the workplace.
|
From page 99... ...
Typical lead levels in urban environments in the 1970s were in the range of 0.5 to 10 ~g/m3, and perhaps 90 percent of this is attributable to lead from gasoline. Most lead is emitted as halides and oxides, but virtually all of it is eventually converted to the sulfate.
|
From page 100... ...
The agency position was that air lead contributed to general population lead exposure and that airborne lead levels below 2 ~g/m3 affect blood lead levels. With the promulgation of a National Ambient Air Quality Standard for toad in 1978 (EPA, 1978)
|
From page 101... ...
The initial regulations set quarterly limits on allowable amounts of lead used by refiners and permitted averaging this amount across all grades of gasoline produced. It was assumed that the natural replacement of older vehicles with cars requiring unleaded fuels would result in the programmed reduction of lead in gasoline, without further intervention by government.
|
From page 102... ...
With the introduction of the catalytic converter in 1973, the next 10 years showed an increase in unleaded gasoline use. By 1983, unleaded fuel was just over 50 percent of the total gasoline market in the United States, and by 1995 it represented almost the entire market.
|
From page 103... ...
households. Blood lead levels were measured for persons aged 6 months to 74 years, and almost 10,000 samples were used.
|
From page 104... ...
There was a decrease in the prevalence of blood lead levels equal to or greater than 10 1lg/~l, from 85 percent to 5.5 percent for nonHispanic white children and from 97.7 percent to 20.6 percent for non-Hispanic black children. The authors attributed the majority of this decrease in blood lead levels to the virtual removal of lead from gasoline and the reduction of lead in soldered cans (Pirkle et al., 19941.
|
From page 105... ...
Industries with reported paraoccupational lead exposures included lead smelting, battery manufacturing and recycling, radiator repair, electrical components manufacturing, pottery and ceramic production, and stained glass making.
|
From page 106... ...
A subgroup underwent an even more detailed study, including questionnaires on lead exposure history, blood lead testing, and' in viva measurement of bone lead levels. The study found that age was the dominant predictor of both tibia and patelIa bone lead.
|
From page 107... ...
and a mandatory program of biological monitoring in most work settings. in addition, the OSHA standard protected worker health and employment rights by establishing a medical removal program: workers whose blood lead levels exceeded the standards were temporarily shifted to jobs without lead exposure with no loss of pay, benefits, or seniority.
|
From page 108... ...
The lead industry also consistently attacks studies that demonstrate a causal relationship between lead exposure and adverse health effects in order to counter this increasing body of evidence. Another industry approach is to claim simply that lead is not a problem and that nothing, therefore, needs to be done about limiting exposures to the metal.
|
From page 109... ...
· International and national protective standards for workers should be widely adopted across the Americas, but these should not necessarily copy those of the United States. Labor and workers should have an opportunity to establish stringent standards for lead exposure consistent with new scientific evidence that was not available or not used when the United States first set its standards.
|
From page 110... ...
working in primary care and family planning in Tijuana, Mexico, have yet to incorporate environmentally driven concerns such as lead poisoning into their regular health activities. Nevertheless, there are indications that lead poisoning and other environmental health concerns are gaining visibility at the local level in Mexico, as they are elsewhere in the Americas.
|
From page 111... ...
Thus, the development of effective community strategies to reduce or prevent lead poisoning will depend not only on information on the sources of contamination and number and distribution of cases identified, but also on being able to convey that information in a manner that is reflective of the community's cultural horizon. That horizon can be defined by a number of factors, including: · the [eve!
|
From page 112... ...
The first step is to appraise the "health horizon" of the community for example, by determining, in the case of lead, the {ever of personal behavior directed toward reducing industrial and family exposures. The current degree of information exchanged about the sources and nature of lead poisoning in the community and the interaction between the public health authorities and community members on health issues important to the community also need to be assessed.
|
From page 113... ...
Whole neighborhoods in Tijuana, for example, are exposed to lead poisoning, and this has resulted in significantly lower lo levels in grade school children living near the lead emission point sources (Guzman, 19949. Of the children surveyed by Guzman, 80 percent had blood lead levels that have been associated in cognitive studies with a seven-point performance id deficit, and the average blood lead of residents is higher than that associated with severe symptoms of lead poisoning.
|
From page 114... ...
These seven views demonstrate increasing knowledge of the dangers, and the nature and sources of community lead exposure. l BOX3-1 Seven Stages of Community Perceptions of Lead as a Health Risk, Tijuana, Mexico Stage 1.
|
From page 115... ...
; informal organizations and networks (such as family and friends) ; or capacities and assets of individuals, citizens' associations, and local institutions; Undertaking a community-led needs assessment that will allow residents to identify problems and priorities that are most important to them; this step should involve the building of productive relationships among local and state health networks who share the common goal of preventing lead .
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.