No abstract

This study presents the first global and country-based estimates of disease burden caused by mercury intoxication in ASGM. Data availability and quality limit the results, and the total disease burden is likely undercounted. Despite these limitations, the data clearly indicate that mercury intoxication in ASG miners is a major, largely neglected global health problem.

Informal ULAB processing is currently causing widespread lead poisoning in LMICs. There is an urgent need to identify and mitigate exposures at existing sites and to develop appropriate policy responses to minimize the creation of new sites.

Lead continues to threaten the health of millions and remains a significant cause of disability in Mexico. Additional interventions in reducing or managing lead-based ceramic glazes are necessary to protect the public health.

Background: Prior calculations of the burden of disease from toxic exposures have not included estimates of the burden from toxic waste sites due to the absence of exposure data.Objective: We developed a disability-adjusted life year (DALY)-based estimate of the disease burden attributable to toxic waste sites. We focused on three low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.Methods: Sites were identified through the Blacksmith Institute’s Toxic Sites Identification Program, a global effort to identify waste sites in LMICs. At least one of eight toxic chemicals was sampled in environmental media at each site, and the population at risk estimated. By combining estimates of disease incidence from these exposures with population data, we calculated the DALYs attributable to exposures at each site.Results: We estimated that in 2010, 8,629,750 persons were at risk of exposure to industrial pollutants at 373 toxic waste sites in the three countries, and that these exposures resulted in 828,722 DALYs, with a range of 814,934–1,557,121 DALYs, depending on the weighting factor used. This disease burden is comparable to estimated burdens for outdoor air pollution (1,448,612 DALYs) and malaria (725,000 DALYs) in these countries. Lead and hexavalent chromium collectively accounted for 99.2% of the total DALYs for the chemicals evaluated.Conclusions: Toxic waste sites are responsible for a significant burden of disease in LMICs. Although some factors, such as unidentified and unscreened sites, may cause our estimate to be an underestimate of the actual burden of disease, other factors, such as extrapolation of environmental sampling to the entire exposed population, may result in an overestimate of the burden of disease attributable to these sites. Toxic waste sites are a major, and heretofore underrecognized, global health problem.

Background and Objectives The Georgian National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) completed a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) from September to December 2018 that included a nationally representative assessment of 1,578 children's blood lead levels (BLLs). The study found that 41% of children (age 2-7 years) had BLLs equal to or exceeding the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's reference level of 5 µg/ dL and that16% of the 1,578 children had BLLs exceeding 10 µg/dL [1-3]. Low-level lead exposure can result in a number of adverse health outcomes in the neurological and cardiovascular systems [4-6]. To investigate potential sources of lead exposure present in the homes of assessed children a team comprised of staff from the NCDC and the nongovernmental organization Pure Earth (NY, USA) conducted site visits to 25 Georgian homes and four bazaars in July 2019 assessing a range of media for lead content including soil, dust, paint, water, spices, toys, and cookware. Methods Sixteen of the 25 homes were selected on the basis of having a child with a BLL > 30 µg/dL, while nine were selected on the basis of having a child with a BLL < 5 µg/dL. The mean BLL in the < 5 µg/dL group was 2.81 µg/dL (range: 1.6-4.01) while the mean BLL in the > 30 µg/dL group was 35.43 µg/dL (range: 32.29-38.57). The mean age for children in the comparison group was 4.2 years (range: 2.7-5.7), while that for the elevated group was 5.1 years (range: 4.1-6.1). The sex of the children was not recorded. The homes were located in the following five regions: Adjara (n = 9); Guria (n = 5); Imereti (n = 7); Shida Kartli (n = 3); and Tbilisi (n = 1). Spices were procured in bulk and assessed from bazaars in Adjara (n = 2), Imereti (n = 1), and Tbilisi (n = 1). Bazaar assessments were not initially contemplated in the study design and were only conducted after spices were found to be adulterated with lead during home assessments. The bazaars were selected based on logistical convenience. As a result, no bazaars were assessed in Guria or Shida Karti. The study relied heavily on field-portable instrumentation confirmed in part by laboratory wet techniques. In total, 682 portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) measurements were taken, including those from cookware (n = 53); paint (n = 207); soil (91); spices (n = 128); toys (n = 78); and ' other' (n = 125) a category comprised of a

Kabwe is a lead contaminated mining town in Zambia. Kabwe has extensive lead contaminated soil and children in Kabwe ingest and inhale high quantities of this toxic dust. The aim of this paper is to analyze the health impact of this exposure for children. Health data from three existing studies were re-analyzed. Over 95% of children living in the most affected townships had high blood lead levels (BLLs) > 10µg/dL. Approximately 50% of those children had BLLs ≥ 45µg/dL. The existing data clearly establishes the presence of a severe environmental health crisis in Kabwe which warrants immediate attention.

In artisanal small-scale gold mining, mercury is used for gold-extraction, putting miners and nearby residents at risk of chronic metallic mercury vapor intoxication (CMMVI). Burden of disease (BoD) analyses allow the estimation of the public health relevance of CMMVI, but until now there have been no specific CMMVI disability weights (DWs). The objective is to derive DWs for moderate and severe CMMVI. Disease-specific and generic health state descriptions of 18 diseases were used in a pairwise comparison survey. Mercury and BoD experts were invited to participate in an online survey. Data were analyzed using probit regression. Local regression was used to make the DWs comparable to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. Alternative survey (visual analogue scale) and data analyses approaches (linear interpolation) were evaluated in scenario analyses. A total of 105 participants completed the questionnaire. DWs for moderate and severe CMMVI were 0.368 (0.261–0.484) and 0.588 (0.193–0.907), respectively. Scenario analyses resulted in higher mean values. The results are limited by the sample size, group of interviewees, questionnaire extent, and lack of generally accepted health state descriptions. DWs were derived to improve the data basis of mercury-related BoD estimates, providing useful information for policy-making. Integration of the results into the GBD DWs enhances comparability.