Angeles Cruz Martinez
Newspaper La Jornada
Friday, July 1, 2022, p. 18
In Mexico, exposure to lead exceeds the limits allowed by the Official Mexican Standard (NOM) on the matter. Around 1.4 million children from 1 to 4 years old had this problem in 2018, but in Puebla it was 46 percent of that sector and in five other entities about a third, according to the National Health Survey (Ensanut) of that year.
The main source of contamination is in traditional pottery (clay objects that use lead paint), which is why civil organizations and companies called yesterday to take measures such as training artisan manufacturers in the use of enamels free of that heavy metal.
They also announced the launch of the Lead-Free Food Alliance; They proposed that lead measurements be carried out in the country and identify the main source of exposure, since it is known to be found in everyday items such as imported cosmetics, some residential paints, and in automotive and electronic batteries.
Other sources of exposure to heavy metals are waste from active mines, metallurgy and the recycling of lead-acid batteries, according to the report El Plomo en la Mesa prepared by the groups Pure Earth from the United States and Barro Aprobado from Mexico.
The document warns that the main cause of chronic intoxication is the lead oxide enamel that is used to glaze pottery and the most affected sector is that of children.
The Ensanut 2018 found that 17.4 percent of the population was exposed to lead and in children it increased to 22 percent on average. By states, after Puebla were San Luis Potosí (37 percent), Tlaxcala (36), State of Mexico (30), Oaxaca (29), Mexico City (28), Aguascalientes (21), Morelos (20), Veracruz (14), Guerrero (13), Zacatecas (11) and Michoacán (10 percent).
It highlights that high levels of exposure harm neurological development. Children can suffer a decrease in their IQ and behavioral disorders that in the short term affect their school performance and can even be the cause of desertion, lower educational level, low wages and a higher risk of engaging in criminal behavior.
Children with lead poisoning may have fatigue, slurred speech, a blue line on the gums, seizures, loss of coordination, loss of appetite, and loss of weight.
Also anemia, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation, headaches and, in general, delayed development, among others.
In the long term, all this has repercussions in the economic sphere due to low productivity and the increase in health problems such as disability, as well as violence due to neurological damage in people.
