Hello!
In this weeks BLOG we will discussing two articles.
An environmental health response to a sever outbreak of childhood lead poisoning in Nigeria by Casey Bartrem
I thought this article was very informative. The intervention that took place was necessary as it took 4 years for lead levels to drop. The development of safer mining at ore processing areas is detrimental in prevention of a similar future crisis. I believe that prevention is the most effective practice out in place. Education of heavy metals, signs and symptoms, and implementation of a plan in the event of a crisis are needed. It was a quick read but outlined the importance of organizations working together in during a crisis. The article also highlighted the impact a heavy metal like lead can have in a community.
Lead Poisoning by Herbert Needleman
I learned a good amount of information from this article. I was please to read that the article would be shifting its view from high doses of exposure to low dose exposure. However, I'm not quite exactly sure how I feel about the outcomes of the article. I am concerned that even after high doses of lead exposure have decreased there are no "safe" levels. As mentioned, lead poisoning can cause disease and illnesses. Having learned that lead poisoning can cause aggression and restlessness in children is concerning because vulnerable populations are at risk. I think of children being helpless to some extent because they rely on their parents. The information presented in this article was a little hard to follow but I was taken back when reading about asymptomatic lead toxicity. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article because it shed some light on a topic that is commonly discussed but I wonder if people truly understand the effects low dose expose to lead can have.
-Iliana
In this weeks BLOG we will discussing two articles.
An environmental health response to a sever outbreak of childhood lead poisoning in Nigeria by Casey Bartrem
I thought this article was very informative. The intervention that took place was necessary as it took 4 years for lead levels to drop. The development of safer mining at ore processing areas is detrimental in prevention of a similar future crisis. I believe that prevention is the most effective practice out in place. Education of heavy metals, signs and symptoms, and implementation of a plan in the event of a crisis are needed. It was a quick read but outlined the importance of organizations working together in during a crisis. The article also highlighted the impact a heavy metal like lead can have in a community.
Lead Poisoning by Herbert Needleman
I learned a good amount of information from this article. I was please to read that the article would be shifting its view from high doses of exposure to low dose exposure. However, I'm not quite exactly sure how I feel about the outcomes of the article. I am concerned that even after high doses of lead exposure have decreased there are no "safe" levels. As mentioned, lead poisoning can cause disease and illnesses. Having learned that lead poisoning can cause aggression and restlessness in children is concerning because vulnerable populations are at risk. I think of children being helpless to some extent because they rely on their parents. The information presented in this article was a little hard to follow but I was taken back when reading about asymptomatic lead toxicity. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article because it shed some light on a topic that is commonly discussed but I wonder if people truly understand the effects low dose expose to lead can have.
-Iliana
Hi Iliana,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your review of the two articles about lead. I would agree, that while the first article was a quick read it provided significant information about how the exposure to lead can impact an environment and what communities need to do to keep the public safe. While I understand that it takes time to fix the problem, it should be highlighted that it took a 4 year intervention to significantly drop the levels of lead found in the villagers. Four years is a significant amount of time for individuals to be receiving medical care for something that could have been avoided all together. Like yourself, I also learned a lot from the second article about lead poisoning and the original opinions about its impact on society.
Hi Iliana,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! After reading the Bartrem article, I was so happy to hear that the residents and people effected got justice, testing, and help to relieve themselves of the toxic substances they had been exposed to. It makes me angry to think that there are SO MANY cases and situations here in our own nation that leave lower SES and underprivileged individuals without any justice when it comes to chemical toxicants that I'm sure they are exposed to on a daily level. It also makes me wonder how much our government really knows about the toxic substances and their wide-ranging effects...I wonder what more we can do for people like the residents of Flint, Michigan when it comes to unjust situations like the lead water contamination...
Aveena