Report outlines lead’s harms, costs—and how to stop the damage
A new report from the World Bank estimates the huge societal costs of lead exposure globally—including developmental harms in children and the risk of disease and early death in adults—and offers a path toward a lead-free world.
Mary Jean Brown, adjunct assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was a co-author of the Oct. 22 report.
Among the report’s findings:
- Millions of people globally continue to be exposed to lead, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
- There is no safe level of lead exposure; it harms nearly every organ system, and even low levels can cause irreversible health and economic consequences. Children face serious neurological harms from lead, and adults face increased risk of cardiovascular disease, other serious diseases, and premature death.
- Combining strategic investments and policy reforms—such as investing in the remediation and cleanup of contaminated sites and setting policies to prevent lead exposure—can solve the crisis.
- Relatively modest investments in interventions can offer high returns, including significantly reduced blood lead levels, lower cardiovascular mortality, and increased lifetime earnings.
- Not acting would cost far more than implementing solutions, because lead exposure imposes a trillion-dollar annual burden on the global economy.
Brown commented on the report’s significance. “Most importantly,” she noted, “the report finds that the economic contributions of lead-related industries are negligible and vastly overshadowed by the immense societal costs of lead exposure.” She said that the report provides a credible source of information for ministers of finance and other policymakers, as well as specific steps they can take that will not only improve the health of individuals but will also increase economic productivity in their countries.
Read the report: A World Without Lead: Paving the Path to a Healthy, Productive Future
