Nearly 98 per cent of children living in Dhaka are exposed to a high level of lead poisoning, according to a study conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.
Lead is responsible for 1,38,054 cardiovascular deaths in Bangladesh annually and the combined cost of lead exposure is estimated at $28.63 billion.
Tracking the sources of the heavy metal, the researchers found lead in local recycling or lead battery manufacturing sites, sand, paint, plastic, cookware and cosmetics, among others. However, they did not found lead in turmeric this time.
The ICDDR,B, an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, conducted the study between 2022 and 2024 among 500 under four-year old children in Dhaka in collaboration with the Stanford聽 School of Medicine of the United States.
The study report was released at the ICDDR,B office in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Jesmin Sultana, one of the researchers, said that they found lead in the blood samples of all the children, but 98 per cent of them were with over 35 micrograms a litre.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US set the highest 35 micrograms a litre in human body as a tolerable level for lead, but in Bangladesh the highest 356 micrograms were detected.
Stanford University professor Steve Luby said that there was no safe level for lead in human body. The presence of lead in human body at any level is dangerous for health because of its multi-system toxin, he said.
Lead affected human body and brain specially those of children, Steve said referring to the study, adding lead caused fatigue, joint and muscle pain, high blood pressure, kidney failure and decreased sex drive and spam count for men.
In case of brain, lead caused memory loss, headache and depression, among others, while it hampered the development for children along with IQ loss and stunted minors.
ICDDR,B executive director Tahmeed Ahmed said that there was a link between lead exposer and poverty.
People in poor living condition were exposed to lead more, he said.
He suggested the authorities relocate factories from densely populated areas and ensure safe processing.
Steve said that there were so many alternatives to lead products, but the lead-free products were pricy in the short term.
鈥楧ue to low investments in lead-free products and lack of awareness, the use of lead in Bangladesh is still high,鈥� he said.
Human can be exposed to lead through inhalation, ingestion, skin absorption and placental transfer to foetus.
Globally 800 million children are exposed to lead where Bangladesh has ranked 4th most lead impacted country in the world with 36 million case load.
Mahbubur Rahman, one of the researchers, said that the economic loss for lead in Bangladesh was 9 per cent of the country鈥檚 gross domestic product.
In the latest research, the ICDDR,B identified that lead poisoning in Dhaka鈥檚 South was higher than the North since in the South, the presence of lead dealing units was higher than the North.
Mahbub said that there were at least 69 units of sources for lead poisoning where lead products, including battery recycled or manufactured, in the city.
Steve said that many developed countries like the US relocated their lead industries to other countries and the same thing was seen in Bangladesh as many lead factories in Bangladesh were owned by China.
He said that lead was an invisible serious problem that people commonly neglected, but its impact was severe since there was no treatment if one was exposed to the heavy metal.
