Cottage industry as a source of high exposure to lead: A biomonitoring study among people involved in manufacturing cookware from scrap metal.
Environ Res
; 250: 118493, 2024 Jun 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38378125
ABSTRACT
In low-income countries, a widespread but poorly studied type of cottage industry consists of melting scrap metal for making cookware. We assessed the exposure to lead (Pb) among artisanal workers, and their families, involved in manufacturing cookware from scrap metal. In a cross-sectional survey, we compared artisanal cookware manufacturing foundries with carpentry workshops (negative controls) and car battery repair workshops (positive controls), all located in residential areas, in Lubumbashi (DR Congo). We collected surface dust in the workspaces, and blood and urine samples among workers, as well as residents living in the cookware workshops. Trace elements were quantified in the samples by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). In surface dust, median Pb concentrations were higher in cookware foundries (347 mg/kg) than in carpentries (234 mg/kg) but lower than in battery repair workshops (22,000 mg/kg). In workers making the cookware (n = 24), geometric mean (GM) Pb blood cencentration was 118 µg/L [interquartile range (IQR) 78.4-204], i.e. nearly twice as high as among carpenters [60.2 µg/L (44.4-84.7), n = 33], and half the concentration of battery repair workers [255 µg/L (197-362), n = 23]. Resident children from the cookware foundries, had higher urinary Pb [6.2 µg/g creatinine (2.3-19.3), n = 6] than adults [2.3 (2.2-2.5), n = 3]. Our investigation confirms the high Pb hazard linked to car battery repair and reveals a high exposure to Pb among artisanal cookware manufacturers and their families, especially children, in residential areas of a city in a low-income country.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Occupational Exposure
/
Biological Monitoring
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Lead
Limits:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Child
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Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Environ Res
/
Environ. res
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Environmental research
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication: