Natural Disasters and Lead - Report Example

Natural Disasters and Lead Name Institution Date Natural Disasters and Lead Introduction The traditional natural disasters like hurricanes now account for most of the environmentally-related disease burden experienced by human beings. Hurricanes usually release a substance known as lead, which is among the significant sources of environmentally-related diseases. However, despite the huge health problem that is posed by the natural disasters, there appears to be little concern for finding permanent solutions. Lead is normally included in the dynamic inputs, outputs, storages and transformations that constitute the interconnected processes. They constitute the interconnected processes by way of fashioning. Environmental signaling is an integral process through which this fashioning occurs. It must be noted that lead poisoning usually hampers the resilience and sustainability of communities. It is linked to many human health and behavioral disorders, which affect an individual in his or her lifetime. Many studies have also established a relation between the exposure to lead and increased behavior of delinquency as well as crime among teenagers. Recent evidence of human exposure on lead from natural disasters like hurricanes shows that it accounts for a significant part of the health complications that are experienced by the Americans. It is vital to note that hurricanes are quite common in the United States of America. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the environmental health risk that is posed by hurricanes with a specific focus on the lead substance that is released during this natural disaster. Miniature Review of the Literature Knowledge of over lead exposure has greatly evolved, particularly its impact on the health of children. Lead is a heavy metal that occurs naturally. The blood lead exposure guidelines that existed from 1990 to 2012 was 10 micrograms per deciliter, μg/dL, (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). This was deemed as the safe amount of lead, which a human body can safely be exposed to from the environment. However, in the 2012, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asserted that no safe lead exposure level is actually known hence changing the “guideline value” description given earlier to the new “reference value” (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). This reference value is now defined as the 97.5 percentile of the blood lead belonging to children as indicated by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). It is important to mention the fact that the current NHANES blood lead value stands at 5 μg/dL. Nonetheless, the need for the primary prevention of lead exposure, particular for children is emphasized by many scholars in the existing literature. It must be noted that the exposure of children to lead normally occurs through direct contact with the soil as a result of the hand-to-mouth behavior, which a feature of the developing nervous system in a child. Apart from this mode of exposure, children are also exposed to lead through inhalation of the dust in the air (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). Since the growth of children requires calcium for purposes of bone strengthening and skeletal development, lead is normally absorbed into the blood in its place when the supply in the body is not sufficient. Since great deposits of natural lead are contained in the soil, anything that causes dust to be highly concentrated in the air because a major health risk to the children. With huge amount of dust in the air children inhale lead and it is absorbed into their blood stream. It is at this point that natural disasters like hurricanes and storms become part of the great sources of lead in the children. It has to be noted that hurricanes leave huge dust concentration in the air, which is inhaled by all people within the affected region (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). Evidence of the connection between natural disasters, particularly hurricanes and increased lead exposure for children is drawn from the case study of the August 2005, Hurricane Katrina. The impact of this particular hurricane on the children in terms of lead exposure has been recorded in the existing literature. Hurricane Katrina affected 80% of New Orleans (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). Research on the impact of Hurricane Katrina in terms lead exposure to the children involved mainly comparing the matched data by census tracts for pre- and post-disaster time periods (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). Moreover, the comparison also involves analyzing the levels of soil-lead and blood-lead in the children during these two time periods. It is important to note that the CDC normally tracks national children’s blood-lead trends regularly and keeps the records (Salas-Luevano, Manzanares-Acuña, Letechipia-de Leon, Hernandez-Davila & Vega-Carrillo, 2011). This process is done under the National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES). This research established that the blood lead of children in New Orleans experienced a steep decline in the level of lead within their blood. During the Katrina Hurricane, the lead that was on the surface of the soil was picked up by the strong wind and suspended in the air. This increase in the air lead enhanced inhalation of its aerosols by the children. The lead aerosols were transferred to their blood. Discussion of Its Adverse Impacts on the Human Condition The high exposure to lead, which is normally caused by storms and hurricanes has adverse health effects to human beings, particularly children. Lead contains neurotoxins that affect the people who inhale it. These neurotoxins are particularly harmful to the neurological development of a child. It causes a negative impact on the intelligent quotient of a child as he or she grows. Most children end up behaving abnormally because of the hampered normal growth caused by exposure to lead (Michael, Burton, Steven, Les, Richard, Timothy & George, 2012). Recent studies have established that lead causes the risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. For the adults, lead exposure to lead causes the risk of cardiovascular mortality. What is quite disturbing is the fact that once lead affects a child, it becomes a life-long health problem. It is the reason fighting children exposure to lead is a very important practice. Lead affects many organs of the human body, which include the kidney, the gastrointestinal tract, and the cardiovascular, hematopoietic, endocrine, immune and skeletal systems (Mielke, Gonzales & Powell, 2017). It is vital to note that currently the section of the population in the United States, which is affected by lead exposure and poisoning, is still very high. This menace is huge within the urban and industrial areas. Although the federal government effectively eliminated the use of substances that used to supply lead into the air like paints, its presence in the surface soil is yet to be dealt with well. It is a problem that becomes quite high during the natural disasters. The urban areas experience the highest concentrations of lead in the soil. Solution Various environmentally-friendly solutions can be suggested for the issue of lead exposure, especially the one caused by natural disasters like storms and hurricanes. The responsibility of preventing lead exposure is mostly laid on the public health and environmental officials as well as the medical community to utilize the multi-pronged ways of ensuring it is controlled and minimized significantly (Abel, Suedel, Presley, Rainwater, Austin, Cox & Leftwich, 2010). Revitalization of the environment is one such strategy that should be implemented in order to deal with the natural disaster effects on the children exposure to lead. In this case, revitalization of the environment is entails confronting the specific damages, which are brought about by the huge amounts of lead deposited by natural disasters such hurricanes. It is vital to note the fact that an event where children get blood lead that is above the desirable level then the most effective solution is a combination of education to create awareness and dust cleanup practices within the homestead or households. It is vital to note that the aim of the solution implemented in this case should to decrease the amount of lead within the soil surface to build safer urban area communities for the children that reside and play in the city. Considering the case of Hurricane Katrina, it is reported that the storm washed low soil lead from the environment of the coast into the city. Therefore, the children’s blood lead experienced sharp reduction. Based on this lesson, it is possible to do transportation of low lead soils into the city as an environmental-friendly solution to this problem (Nweke & Sanders III, 2009). In the recent past, many soil lead projects have been implemented in New Orleans with the main objective being improvement of the children’s play areas. In places, where the low soil lead is just near the urban area hence inexpensive to transport it into the city, this action needs to be considered as an effective solution. Studies have indicated that virtually all the cities in the United States have low lead soils near them hence this action plan can be implemented for every urban area in this country so that hurricanes do not affect them when they happen. Conclusion The New Orleans case study offers many lessons about soil lead. It is important to note that efforts aimed at eliminating the use of substances, which contain deposits of lead have born fruits of success. Currently, the use of substances such leaded gasoline and petrol as well as paint has been eliminated. However, relevant players and environmentalists have not managed to eliminate the problem of soil lead, which occurs naturally. Children who like playing in grounds filled with the surface soil lead are highly exposed to this environmental health hazard. Children have for a very long time been so sensitive to the soil lead because of the many ways they come into contact with. Apart from their habit of hand-to-mouth, which makes to directly put leaded soil in their mouth, they also inhale dust that is filled with same metal. This level of inhalation is even enhanced during hurricanes since the storms suspend the dust in the air. Children end up inhaling lead, which is then absorbed in the brain. In this study, it has been established that lead is associated with a number of health complications. This factor makes lead to be a major modern environmental health hazard that must be confronted with great determination in order to solve it. Lead adversely affects virtually all the body organs of a child. The most affected part in a child is the neurological development process, which is hampered by the neurotoxins found in the lead aerosols. Therefore, transportation of low lead soils into the urban areas to make cities safe for the children is the main solution to this problem. References Abel, M. T., Suedel, B., Presley, S. M., Rainwater, T. R., Austin, G. P., Cox, S. B., ... & Leftwich, B. D. (2010). Spatial distribution of lead concentrations in urban surface soils of New Orleans, Louisiana USA. Environmental geochemistry and health, 32(5), 379-389. Michael T, A., Burton, S., Steven M, P., Les N, M., Richard, R., Timothy, G., ... & George P, C. (2012). Contribution of soil lead to blood lead in children: A study from New Orleans, LA. Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012. Mielke, H. W., Gonzales, C. R., & Powell, E. T. (2017). Soil Lead and Children’s Blood Lead Disparities in Pre-and Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans (USA). International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(4), 407. Nweke, O. C., & Sanders III, W. H. (2009). Modern environmental health hazards: a public health issue of increasing significance in Africa.Environmental health perspectives, 117(6), 863. Salas-Luevano, M. A., Manzanares-Acuña, E., Letechipia-de Leon, C., Hernandez-Davila, V. M., & Vega-Carrillo, H. R. (2011). Lead concentration in soil from an old mining town. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 289(1), 35-39. Read More