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Heavy Metals

Both articles discuss the impact of lead poisoning on human health, particularly for low, consistent exposure in young children—a population highly vulnerable to their developmental age. Lead toxicity influences the central nervous system, which can result in impaired learning and social function. Acute lead poisoning in adults can lead to hypertension and even bone demineralization, while children are more susceptible to deficits in cognitive, attentional, and behavioral function. Such developmental deficits have resulted in severe disabilities in children when followed up on in adolescence. Given these health outcomes, it is recommended for children who demonstrate stunted growth, abdominal pain, behavior change, hyperactivity, speech impairments, anemia to be tested for lead poisoning. Lead toxicity was also reduced by limiting exposure from common products like gas and paint.

Lead toxicity was also found to be related to artisanal gold ore processing, which caused the death of over 400 deaths in children aged less than 5 years. This unacceptable occurrence was a critical rude awakening for governmental and public health action. This led to disease management, intervention design, implementation, evaluation, and adaptation. It also revealed that with collective efforts, a vital health issue can be addressed and be eliminated. Lastly, it showed that small decisions and actions can have an incredible impact on human and environmental health, so we must be mindful and aware of toxicants, especially those that are seemingly non-harmful.

Comments

  1. JudyJudeNovember 2, 2018 at 5:30 PM

    It is scary that with lead, one cannot smell or see the harm until symptoms appear. By the time people notice the side effects, it may be too late.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Antonio SorianoNovember 9, 2018 at 7:32 PM

    Heavy metals, like lead are important. The second article we had to read was extremely emotional and was sad to read about. However, like you mentioned, it also shows the incredible effort it took to remedy the gold ores.

    ReplyDelete

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