'Alarming rise in lead poisoning cases in city'

Bangalore, Aug. 6.: The introduction of unleaded petrol has led to a decrease in lead poisoning cases due to vehicle exhaust among children below twelve years of age in Mumbai and New Delhi, but Bangalore had shown an alarming increase, Director of National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning in India (NRCLPI), said today.

T Venkatesh told PTI at the NRCLPI launch that the "suprising trends" were the result of Mumbai and New Delhi introducing unleaded petrol much before Bangalore and the other metros in the country, emphasising the benefits of unleaded petrol.

According to a study by the George Foundation, which along with St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences launched NRCLPI here, in Mumbai 76 per cent of children above 12 had lead content more than the safe limit of 10 mg per 100 ml of blood.

However, only 61 per cent of children below 12 were found to have more than the safe limit of lead in their body, indicating that the lead poisoning cases in the largest Indian city was on the decline. This showed that lead content in children born in the last 12 years was gradually coming down.

New Delhi also showed a similar trend with about 68 per cent children above 12 have lead content more than the safe limit, while 54 per cent children below 12 had lead deposits above the prescribed levels.

Surprisingly, the trends were reverse in the cases of Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, where unleaded petrol was introudced on uniform scale only three years back.

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Section  : Southern States
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