Health Impacts
Lead is a highly poisonous heavy metal. Exposure to even small amounts of lead over time can have lifelong effects on children, inflicting irreversible damage to their developing bodies and brains. There is no safe level of lead exposure. Prevention is the only effective way to stop the damage caused by lead poisoning.
Up to 800 million children around the world are affected by lead poisoning. It is a public health hazard in every region of the world, contributing to disease burden, disability and death. Most of the children with the highest blood lead levels live in Asia and Africa, but many are also affected in Central and South America and Eastern Europe, as well as in pockets within high-income countries. Lead can be found in the air, soil, water and the built environment.
Significant levels of lead poisoning in many low- and middle-income countries result from the irregular use of lead in consumer products such as spices, paints and dyes, cookware and ceramics, cosmetics, toys, leaded glass, jewelry, ceramics, ammunition and fishing weights. Other potential important sources include contaminated water due to lead pipes and fittings, residual pollution from leaded gasoline, light aviation fuel, e-waste recycling, some traditional medicines, ceremonial powders and folkloric traditions.
Lead is a main component of lead-acid batteries (LAB) in vehicles and other industrial applications on a global scale. Almost all the lead in LAB can be recovered and recycled. However, in low- and middle-income countries, substantial numbers of used lead-acid batteries (ULAB) are recycled in informal, uncontrolled and unregulated settings that contaminate the air, water and soil in the surrounding communities.
As a teenager, starting at 14, I worked as a head porter in Accra, Ghana, earning a small daily wage. After work, I slept homeless on the streets of Agbogbloshie, known as one of the world’s largest e-waste scrapyards. There, vast amounts of e-waste were openly burned, exposing children and adolescents living in the slums nearby to hazardous chemicals like lead. We inhaled toxic smoke daily, and many of my friends and young scrap pickers fell ill, including myself.
Salah Abudu, 26-year-old, Ghana
From 1990 to 2017, the health impacts of lead exposure increased by nearly 40 per cent globally, with the most significant growth in lower-middle-income countries. In contrast, high-income countries saw a decline of over 30 per cent.
The death rate from lead exposure has risen steadily over the past 30 years, now 21 per cent higher than in 1990, with upper-middle-income countries experiencing a 46 per cent increase since then. East Asia has seen a 53 per cent rise in lead-related deaths. Currently, 92 per cent of all deaths attributed to lead exposure occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Accumulated lead in blood is a serious risk factor in later life, causing at least 1.5 million deaths per year from cardiovascular disease and kidney effects, which is more deaths than caused by tuberculosis, malaria or HIV/AIDS. However, these mortality numbers only scratch the surface of lead's devastating impact. The most harmful and long-lasting effects occur in children under the age of five and pregnant women.
Childhood lead poisoning wreaks its havoc insidiously; therefore, it often goes unrecognized. It irreversibly damages children's developing brain and nervous systems, the heart, lungs and kidneys and often does so while causing no or only subtle symptoms in the early stages. Hence, the full magnitude of the scale of global lead poisoning has only recently come to light.
Children are exceptionally vulnerable to the harmful effects of lead poisoning, as their rapidly developing brains and bodies absorb lead at rates four to five times higher than adults. Even the lowest levels of lead in the bloodstream can cause irreversible damage. Lead exposure can cause serious health consequences, including neurological damage, reduced IQ, attention deficits, and behavioral problems. Even low blood lead levels have been linked to cognitive decline in children.
For pregnant women, lead stored in their bones from past exposure can be released into the bloodstream, putting their unborn babies at risk. High lead exposure during pregnancy can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth or low birth weight.
The impact of lead exposure is cumulative—the more a child is exposed, the greater the severity and range of symptoms.
How lead affects children and lifelong health
Chronic lead exposure can result in anemia, headaches, irritability, muscle weakness and more serious neurological issues such as seizures or paralysis. At very high levels, lead poisoning can cause life-threatening conditions like encephalopathy, leading to convulsions, blindness, mental retardation and death.
Lead poisoning symptoms in children
Children are uniquely vulnerable to lead poisoning
Children face a much greater risk from lead exposure than adults due to several key factors:
Infants and young children can absorb lead at a rate 4-5 times greater than adults, making them much more susceptible to its harmful effects.
Because children breathe, eat and drink more relative to their body weight than adults, they are more likely to ingest lead from contaminated air, food and water.
Children's behaviours increase their exposure to lead. They are more likely to play close to the ground, where lead-contaminated soil and dust accumulate, and engage in hand-to-mouth activities, increasing the chances of ingesting harmful particles. Additionally, children may develop pica, a condition where non-food items like dirt or paint chips are eaten, further raising the risk.
A child’s blood-brain barrier is still maturing, allowing more lead to enter the brain compared to adults. This can cause more severe neurological damage, especially during early childhood when the brain is rapidly forming new neural connections.
Lead exposure during children's critical developmental years can severely impact their health, leading to cognitive, behavioural and physical challenges that can last a lifetime.
Tackling this challenge demands a united response from governments, civil society and the private sector.
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