Public health is an important factor to consider when making policies. In most cases, the issues affecting human beings are naturally occurring while in some instances, they are caused by human activities. Even the naturally occurring ones can be heightened by people. As such, the public health policies must consider the issue at hand and control the actions of people thus preventing potential dangers. One of the issues is lead contamination. This paper will discuss the various elements that make up lead exposure and how it occurs in the atmosphere. It will also describe the dangers it poses to the public, and how to solve such.
Background
Lead is a naturally occurring metallic element found in small quantities on the earth’s crust. It has some beneficial uses like making pipes and batteries ( Flora, Gupta, & Tiwari, 2012) . On the other hand, lead can also be toxic to humans and animals thus endangering health. The health risks are severe and can cause long term effects to the victim, even though severe lead exposure is limited in developed countries due to the reduced usage of the metal in various ways like petrol and due to public outcry and campaigns. However, even with this reduction, chronic exposure to lower levels of lead continues to be a public health problem.
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The toxicity of lead poses long term effects to both adults and children by providing a wide range of health adversities; however, childhood poisoning id much higher and more severe. Ever since the discovery of lead as a dangerous metal, millions of children have seen its health effect. According to a CDC report in 2006, an estimated 310,000 children who are six years old and below have too much lead in their blood in the United States ( Flora, Gupta, & Tiwari, 2012) . Lead contamination is a national issue due to the ways in which it manifests.
Exposure of lead occurs in various ways include drinking water from lead pipes, breathing air, food, hair dyes, waning paint, house dust, bare soil, and porcelains. Children experiencing high levels of lead have more exposure to the metal in their homes.
Problem Statement
The EPA seeks to control the issue of toxins in the environment to reduce the health hazards caused by these substances such as lead. The agency through its policies has managed to reduce the concentration of lead in the atmosphere by reviewing the use of petrol and other fossil fuels. This has led to a reduction of severe exposures. Although there is a reduction in the levels of lead in the blood and air, there is still a problem of chronic exposure for low levels of lead in the environment that costs the government millions of dollars every year dealing with the health effects. Children are still under risk of lead exposure in their own homes from paints, hair dyes, and other cosmetics, as well as the bare playgrounds (CDC, 2012). This leads to the manifestation of long-term health effects. In response to this problem, this study proposes to assess the various options that can be implemented to make the environment safe for the children and the adults who are at risk of lead contamination and solving the long-term impact that this exposure has on their health. The paper seeks to consider various cost-effective ways to mitigate some or all of the problems associated with lead contamination such as covering the playgrounds and using non-leaden dyes and cosmetics.
Options for mitigation
There are many options that can be used to solve the issue of lead contamination. The house should be inspected and maintained to make sure that there is no paint deterioration. When having home renovations, the homeowner must ensure that the expert carrying out the work is certified by the EPA as Lead-Safe ( Blando, Antoine, & Lefkowitz, 2013) . The person must also ensure they follow the lead-safe work practices. The areas where children play should be covered to prevent dust loosening and filling the air. The parent must ensure their children do not play in bare soil unless they are known to be free from lead. This is especially from areas where there is a higher likelihood of lead deposition through leaded gasoline use and discarded paints in some days before they include vacant slots where old settlements were existing (Mielke et al., 2011)..
The parent must ensure the diet taken is healthy and rich in iron, zinc, and calcium. Children with a healthy diet have less lead absorption rate. Water damage should be addressed completely and quickly. Debris from the outlet screens should also be cleaned on a regular basis.
The issue of lead contamination has an effect on a national scope and therefore requires the input of various stakeholders. First, the government officials who are responsible for making the policies are important stakeholders. This is because they influence how the actions will be taken and design the action plan. The parents are also stakeholders in this because they are responsible for the home environment that the child grows in.
Impact on Healthcare Delivery System
Lead contamination is an important public health issue that causes a lot of impacts on the healthcare delivery system. The exposure can lead to health hazards that need the attention of care providers, both trained and untrained in the home place to take care of the victim. Lead contamination needs a diagnosis and therefore there are health professionals involved. The other impact is on financial resources. Lead has been known to cause financial constraints to the US government over a long period of time now when addressing the effects; it has on children and adults. In 1997, it accounted for $43.5 billion, higher than any other environmental substance at that time. This shows how a reduction in the exposure of lead will save the financial resources of health. Lead contamination also has impacts on information resources of the healthcare system. The evidence-based knowledge of the hazards of lead has led to the campaigns that achieved a reduction in usage of leaded gasoline. This was due to the information on the various data.
References
Flora, G., Gupta, D., & Tiwari, A. (2012). Toxicity of lead: a review with recent updates: Interdisciplinary toxicology , 5 (2), 47-58.
Brown, M. J., Margolis, S., & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Lead in drinking water and human blood lead levels in the United States : US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Attina, T. M., & Trasande, L. (2013). Economic costs of childhood lead exposure in low-and middle-income countries: Environmental health perspectives , 121 (9), 1097.
Mielke, H. W., Covington, T. P., Mielke Jr, P. W., Wolman, F. J., Powell, E. T., & Gonzales, C. R. (2011). Soil intervention as a strategy for lead exposure prevention: The New Orleans lead-safe childcare playground project: Environmental pollution , 159 (8-9), 2071-2077.
Blando, J. D., Antoine, N., & Lefkowitz, D. (2013). Lead-based paint awareness, work practices, and compliance during residential construction and renovation: Journal of environmental health , 75 (9), 20-27.
