International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2019: Are you leadaware?
Lead exposure can have serious detrimental effects on health, especially in children.
Public Health Wales is pleased to support the World Health Organization’s: International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2019.
The banning of lead in paint and petrol has been an important and significant public health success in reducing our exposure. However, despite this success, there is still a significant amount of lead in the environment all around us.
Lead exposure can have serious long-term health effects on both adults and particularly children. Lead is toxic to multiple body systems including, the central nervous system, brain, reproductive system, kidneys, cardiovascular system, blood and the immune system.
There is no safe level of lead exposure for anyone but lead exposure particularly affects the young. Children exposed to even low concentrations of lead can experience significant problems with their early physical and mental development and this can result in learning and behavioural problems.
If you live in an older home, built before the 1970s, you should ensure that your drinking water pipes are not made of lead. If you are undertaking any household renovations, take care when removing old paint and do not allow children to be present in the area while work is undertaken.
Sarah Jones, Consultant in Environmental Health Protection at Public Health Wales said:
“We know that lead still causes harm to health in Wales. We encourage people to look at the information on our web pages and complete the Health Wise Wales form so that they can learn more about how to avoid risks associated with lead and we can learn more about how we can prevent lead related harms.”
For more information, please visit the Public Health Wales website:
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