Today, the topic of "silver bracelets that make children stupid" is on the Weibo hot search list, with 120 million reads and 4,000+ discussions.
It turned out that a certain evaluation agency identified a batch of silver jewelry on the market and found that most of them were found to have excessive lead content. Long-term children wear these silver jewelry, light will affect intelligence, heavy will cause disease, affect the child's life.
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How common is lead poisoning in children?
Data: 1 in 10 children has lead poisoning
As early as 2002, the World Health Organization's Child Health Cooperation Center led the launch of the "Large-scale Survey of Lead Poisoning in Chinese Children", which sampled 17,000 children aged 0 to 6 years in 15 cities. The results show that the average lead poisoning rate of children is 10.45%, which means that 1 in every 10 children has lead poisoning!
Once lead enters the body, it takes a full 4-5 years to completely metabolize it.
The baby's metabolism and excretion function are not perfect, and lead remains in the body for 5-8 times longer than adults.
For every 100 micrograms per liter of blood lead in children, the IQ drops by 6.67 points! If lead continues to accumulate, your baby's IQ decreases further.
The average rate of lead poisoning in children is 10.45%, and 1 in every 10 children has lead poisoning!
How does lead hurt a child?
In fact, lead is one of the most toxic and harmful heavy metals to humans.
Ideally, a person's blood lead level should be 0. But in fact, because the environment contains more or less lead, the human body must inevitably have a certain amount of lead. But young children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead, which they absorb 4-5 times more lead from specific sources than adults.
Once the child's blood lead exceeds the standard, its damage to the child's body will be all-round, the child's nervous system, hematopoietic system, digestive system, and reproductive system...
1. Damage to neurodevelopment and affect IQ
Lead can cause ADHD, difficulty concentrating, severe, and even impair children's intelligence. A study in the Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics conducted blood lead tests and IQ tests on 160 children, and found that for every 100 micrograms per liter of blood lead in children, their IQ dropped by 6.67 points! What's even more frightening is that this damage is irreversible! In other words, even after treatment, the blood lead level is reduced, and the child's IQ cannot be restored!
A study by the Early Childhood Comprehensive Development Research Laboratory of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, "Blood Lead Status and Its Influencing Factors in Some Cities in China", pointed out: "About 800,000 children suffer from lead poisoning every year, resulting in intellectual development disorders. ”
2. Causes leukemia
Excess lead can affect hematopoietic function, the blood system, liver system and nervous system is the most serious damage, can cause leukemia, organ failure and other serious consequences.
3. Affect bone development
Studies have found that blood lead levels in children under 7 years of age are inversely proportional to height and bust circumference. For every 100 micrograms per liter of blood lead levels, a child's height drops by 1.3 centimeters.
4. Affect the reproductive system
Excessive blood lead can also affect a child's reproductive system. Moreover, a research paper in the Chinese Journal of Eugenics and Genetics showed that there was a significant correlation between the father's exposure to lead in the first half of pregnancy and the congenital heart disease of his child.
How does lead get into the human body?
In fact, most of the lead is ingested into the body through the mouth, and then absorbed through the digestive tract; and then there are also a lot of lead, which is inhaled into the body through breathing.
1. Paint, paint
Because lead compounds, which are stable in nature, will be added to many paints, coatings, and pigments. In particular, many brightly colored paints and coatings may contain more lead.
After the hands are touched, without washing their hands, the lead can easily pass through the hands and enter the body from the mouth. Especially children, who like to eat hands and nibble on their hands, or take related products, bite around, and ingest more lead.
2. Hair dye
Hair dyes also contain a lot of lead, even more than paint pigments! The American Cancer Society surveyed 13,000 women with hair colored hair and found that they had 3.8 times more leukemia than unpainted women.
3. Inferior toys and stationery
Some inferior toys, inferior stationery, all contain lead. When children begin to explore the world, they want to take a bite and taste everything, and it is easy to eat lead in their mouths.
4. Unqualified cosmetics
The lead content of cosmetics also has a standard, and it cannot exceed this standard according to the requirements. For example, according to mainland regulations, the amount of lead impurities per kilogram in cosmetics cannot exceed 40 milligrams. Among them, lipstick is the hardest hit area with excessive lead, and every day lipstick is more or less eaten by women. The baby and the mother make contact and put their hands in their mouths... Lead ran unconsciously into the baby's body.
5. Some Chinese herbal medicines
Chinese medicine is certainly a good thing. But the problem is that during the growth process, the herbs will enrich some heavy metals from the environment. This has resulted in some unqualified Chinese herbal medicines with excessive lead levels. For example, in 2017, the State Food and Drug Administration notified 16 batches of Chinese medicine tablets with heavy metals exceeding the standard, including common Chinese medicinal materials such as licorice, honeysuckle, and goji berries.
6, lead dust in the environment
China is the world's largest producer of lead, accounting for half of the world's lead production. At the same time, China is the largest consumer of lead. In addition, leaded gasoline was once widely used. Between 1986 and 1995 alone, 1,500 tons of lead emissions from mainland vehicles were emitted in the 10 years. It is conceivable that lead dust in the environment is inhaled into the lungs and is not a small harm to people.
How can we avoid lead poisoning?
1. Develop good hygiene habits.
In order to reduce the avoidance of "lead through the mouth", after playing outdoors, before eating and sleeping, the baby washes his hands and cuts his nails frequently.
2. Decoration should pay attention to environmental protection.
The decoration materials of the new house should be made of lead-free formula. In addition, if someone in the family is engaged in lead-related work, be sure to clean thoroughly after returning home to avoid affecting the child.
3. Select qualified daily necessities.
When buying something for your child, choose a product that has been tested by a regular manufacturer. Especially when choosing tableware, avoid picking goods that are brightly colored and shoddy.
4. Eat less peeled eggs and popcorn.
Peeled eggs, old-fashioned popcorn machines to fry food, eat less.
5. Minimize going out when the air is poor.
Lead and other heavy metals in dirty air can threaten a child's health.
Source: Man say health, Fujian Daily, Fujian Health News