Childhood Lead Exposure from Battery Recycling in Vietnam

Abstract

Background. Battery recycling facilities in developing countries can cause community lead exposure. Objective. To evaluate child lead exposure in a Vietnam battery recycling craft village after efforts to shift home-based recycling outside the village. Methods. This cross-sectional study evaluated 109 children in Dong Mai village, using blood lead level (BLL) measurement, parent interview, and household observation. Blood samples were analyzed with a LeadCare II field instrument; highest BLLs (≥45 μg/dL) were retested by laboratory analysis. Surface and soil lead were measured at 11 households and a school with X-ray fluorescence analyzer. Results. All children had high BLLs; 28% had BLL ≥45 μg/dL. Younger age, family recycling, and outside brick surfaces were associated with higher BLL. Surface and soil lead levels were high at all tested homes, even with no recycling history. Laboratory BLLs were lower than LeadCare BLLs, in 24 retested children. Discussion. In spite of improvements, lead exposure was still substantial and probably associated with continued home-based recycling, legacy contamination, and workplace take-home exposure pathways. There is a need for effective strategies to manage lead exposure from battery recycling in craft villages. These reported BLL values should be interpreted cautiously, although the observed field-laboratory discordance may reflect bias in laboratory results.

The Global Burden of Lead Toxicity Attributable to Informal Used Lead-Acid Battery Sites

“…70,71 In the present study, we predicted geometric mean BLLs of 31.15 mg/dL in children and 21.2 mg/ dL in adults living near ULAB sites. We further stated that these predictions are much lower than actual the BLLs found by researchers at sites in the field [53][54][55][56][57] and that our predictions are very likely underestimates.…”

“…Comparable studies in China, for example, have found population-wide BLLs >100 mg/ dL 53,54 and studies from other countries regularly report BLLs >40 mg/dL. [55][56][57] Our low estimates may reflect our reliance on environmental exposure estimates and on the IEUBK and ALM algorithms that were designed for a US context. We have tried to correct for this limitation by adjusting upward for the higher levels of ingestion that have been reported in LMICs.…”

“…In some cases, informal operators have been aggregated into industrial clusters that are spatially segregated from residential areas. 56,57 Elsewhere, sites have been shuttered by authorities only to relocate. Much has been written on adapting regulatory frameworks to the informal sector.…”

End-of-life vehicle management: a comprehensive review

“…Gottesfeld et al [183] assessed soil contamination inside and outside recycling plants operating with government approval to recycle used lead-acid batteries in seven African countries. Several studies investigated soil contamination and human health exposure in the battery recycling craft village, Dong Mai, Vietnam [184][185][186][187][188]. For instance, Ericson et al [184] evaluated the efficiency of a novel soil lead mitigation project, Noguchi et al [185], Daniell et al [186], and Eguchi et al [187] assessed human lead exposure, while Fujimori et al [188] studied the lead contamination level in surface soil on roads.…”

Artisans’ Willingness-to-Pay for Safe Collection and Recycling of Used Automobile Lead-Acid Batteries in Kumasi, Ghana

“…The lead extraction process also yields empty plastic cases. Because all these activities are done with little or no knowledge of the toxicity of lead, under poor conditions of safety, health and environmental controls, unregulated and informal recycling is most likely to cause environmental contamination and human exposure [3,16,17] [20]; Peter [21] and recently Dartey et al [22,23] indicate that workers at storage battery manufacture and repair workshops are particularly at risk because industrial hygiene is poor. In fact, Dartey et al [23] in particular have reported of elevated mean levels of Blood -Pb, Serum-Pb and Urine -Pb among small scale LABs repair workers in Suame Magazine and Asafo Fitam in the Kumasi metropolis of Ghana.…”