SUNDAY, October 21,  2018 marked the beginning of this year’s edition of the week-long International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week which ended on Saturday, October 28,  2018. It is not yet too late for Nigeria to get in the mood and join the fray in efforts to get rid of this deadly substance from paints which are part of everyday modern living.

WHO

The World Health Organisation, which set the week aside to focus on the dangers of lead poisoning defined its objective thus: “Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint is a co-operative initiative led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to focus and catalyse the efforts to achieve international goals to prevent children’s exposure to paints containing lead and to minimise occupational exposures to lead paint”.

The intention is to rapidly phase-out the manufacture of paints containing lead, replacing this poisonous element with healthier alternatives, and possibly banning the use of lead in the manufacture of paints by 2020.

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Lead is very useful and attractive to paint makers because it helps to accelerate drying, maintain fresh appearance and resists moisture and corrosion. However, it poses great dangers to human beings, particularly children. Experts say exposure of children to lead results in mental retardation. It also promotes long-term health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney failure and stroke.

According to the WHO: “The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has estimated that, based on 2016 data, lead exposure accounted for 540,000 deaths and 13.9 million years lost to disability and death due to long-term health effects, with the highest burdens in the developing regions”.

Nigeria, definitely, has a well-documented history of deaths and disabilities due to exposure to lead. In 2010, Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF, (Doctors Without Borders) reported a plague of lead poisoning which claimed the lives of 400 to 500 children in Zamfara State where large-scale illegal lead mining takes place. 17,000 people were given treatment while 7,000 children under five were faced with imminent disability. The threat remains in all areas where lead mining and exposure to lead in paints occur.

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Governments at all level must link up efforts with the MSF, the WHO and the UNEP and key into efforts being made at universal levels to tackle the threat of exposure to lead poisoning. Not much is known of indigenous efforts being made to eliminate lead from paints made in Nigeria in favour of healthier alternatives.

It is very crucial that we raise greater awareness of this scourge by participating in the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week activities. We must also work toward the elimination of lead in paints by 2020 or shortly after.

Government must take the lead in these efforts in the interest of public safety.