Directory: Model National Lead Safety Policy

Directory

Model National Lead Safety Policy Proposal: Towards a Lead-Safe World

The LEAD Group’s Proposal for National Government Policy on the Prevention and Management of Lead Exposure, Poisoning and Contamination

Author: Elizabeth O’Brien, BSc, Grad Dip Health Ed

With

• Lucinda Curran, MA, BHSc, Adv Dip Building Biology, Dip T
• Dr. Andreas K Breitbarth, MBBS, MPH, BPsych (Hons)
• Ananda Card (NZ), BA
• Tim Pye (UK), BSc
• Anne Roberts, BArch

With review comments by the following members of The LEAD Group’s Technical Advisory Board:

• Prof Mark Patrick Taylor
• Dr Marc Grunseit
• Prof Peter Newman, Co-ordinating Lead Author for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Transport
• Jenna Barnes
• Michael Mobbs
• Andrew Hobday
• Prof Richard Banati
• Dr Chloë Mason
• The LEAD Group Inc., Australia; Lead Aware NZ (New Zealand); and LEAPP Alliance, UK – Lead Exposure and Lead Poisoning Prevention Alliance – A joint initiative of the Lead Containing Materials Association, Lead in Water and Lead Safe World UK (United Kingdom)

Table of Contents

Model National Lead Safety Policy – Towards a Lead-Safe World

The LEAD Group’s Proposal for National Government Policy on the Prevention and Management of Lead Exposure, Poisoning and Contamination

Initial Steps to Prevent Lead Exposure and Lead Poisoning

i) Establish a National Blood Lead Surveillance System, the data from which feeds government Lead Education and Awareness Campaigns 

ii) Set national blood lead action levels for sub-populations and the environmental and consumer standards designed to lower blood lead levels, and to prevent and address environmental lead contamination

iii) Set target blood lead levels and reduce them over time

iv) Promote blood lead testing of individuals and inclusion in blood lead surveys of categories of people at risk of historical, current or future lead exposure

v) Ensure that all blood lead results and patients’ details are uploaded to the National Blood Lead Surveillance System 

vi) Use pathology reports to re-educate lead-workers, employers, trade unions and health professionals as to current blood lead target and blood lead action levels, and new levels as revised

vii) Use pathology reports to advise doctors and their patients as to options for accurate and reliable testing for the likely environmental lead sources that may have elevated their blood lead level

viii) National governments will budget for the provision of affordable laboratory testing and guidance on lead results in potential environmental, food, and other sources of lead to individuals (of all ages)

ix) Determine and allocate responsibility for prevention of lead exposure and lead poisoning

x) Carry out a National Blood Lead Survey of All Ages within 6 months of endorsing the National Lead Safety Policy on the Prevention and Management of Lead Exposure, Poisoning and Contamination

xi) Further research the lead sources and pathways for National Blood Lead Survey of All Ages participants who have blood lead levels above the current action level

xii) Incorporate all National Blood Lead Survey of All Ages results and individual findings from isotopic research into the National Blood Lead Surveillance System

xiii) Fund the implementation of campaigns to increase public awareness of lead and manufacturers, distributors and consumer of alternatives 

xiv) Examine and utilise research into health and environmental impacts of lead and deficits caused by past lead exposure and their effect on the gross domestic product (GDP), in order to justify budgetary allocations to both a National Lead Safety Policy

xv) Fund posthumous blood and/or bone lead testing

xvi) Utilise research on the effects of lead on fauna, flora, microbes and the environment to create environmental protection legislation 

xvii) Legislate to ensure that the recycling of the biggest use of lead complies with the requirements of a circular economy  

xviii) Contribute to a global database of research of world’s best practice on Lead Exposure and Lead Poisoning Prevention 

1.0      Steps in Primary Prevention of Lead Exposure

1.1 Provide environmental lead testing to every young child in public housing or living in poverty in an inner city area or leaded community  

1.2 Use the results of the National Blood Lead Survey of All Ages and all lead interventions research in the country to identify persons/groups at risk of future elevated blood lead levels

1.3 Promote identification and pre-emptive environmental testing to prevent future lead exposure via the same lead sources and pathways as identified in the National Blood Lead Survey

1.4 Having identified persons/groups at risk and sources and pathways by which serious lead exposure has occurred, introduce regulations to prevent such exposures from occurring in others, so that each target can be met

1.5 Set maximum legislated limits for lead in various media, aimed at preventing blood lead levels from exceeding the current blood lead target and reset the limits once this is met

1.6 Create legislation for the certification of professionals and tradespeople involved in the inspection, assessment, removal/abatement, and clearance of lead hazards

1.7 Incorporate any changes from the above steps in Primary Lead Exposure and Lead Poisoning Prevention into educational materials and media campaigns 

1.8 Ensure ongoing blood lead monitoring in at-risk groups

2.0 Steps in Secondary Prevention of Lead Exposure

2.1 Include progress steps and graphs in the National Blood Lead Surveillance System for individuals who have second and further blood lead tests or bone lead XRF scans

2.2 Create legislation and awareness campaigns to prevent further lead exposure of individuals

2.3 Identify persons at risk using known risk factors and set action blood lead levels to prevent further lead exposure in each of the sub-populations for which target blood lead levels have been set

2.4 Undertake isotopic fingerprinting research on individuals who do not have identified lead sources or exposure pathways  

2.5 Ensure ongoing blood lead monitoring to achieve Secondary Lead Exposure Prevention

2.6 Research nutritional and other interventions which may decrease lead absorption, increase lead elimination or overcome lead-induced deficits  

2.7 Incorporate any learnings from the above steps in Secondary Lead Exposure and Lead Poisoning Prevention into educational materials and media campaigns

3.0 Steps in Tertiary Prevention of Lead Poisoning

3.1 Carry out or fund further research to discover if there are links between elevated blood lead levels at any age and the development of certain adverse health effects in later life

3.2 Carry out or fund research to test whether certain intervention protocols succeed in reducing the risk of development of associated adverse health effects 

3.3 Require independent research of detoxification claims and immediately inform health professionals and the public of research findings

3.4 Promote the utilisation of all known ways of overcoming lead-associated health and behavioural problems

3.5 Incorporate any learnings from the above steps in Tertiary Lead Poisoning Prevention into educational materials and media campaigns  

Addendum 1 – Examples of community organisations and professional bodies to run government-funded lead-safety media campaigns 

Addendum 2 – Global Cumulative Lead Mine Production and compared to “1000 years of Carbon Dioxide” 

Addendum 3 – The Burden of Responsibility for Creating a Lead-Safe World… and Averting Climate Crisis

Addendum 4 – References

Addendum 5 – Lead as a major threat for human health and the environment Report to G7 Ministers