Deaths by exposure to hazardous chemicals increased 29% between 2016 and 2019: WHO

What is the News?

The World Health Organization(WHO) has released estimates on the Impact of hazardous chemicals on Public Health.

Key Findings:

Deaths due to Hazardous Chemicals Exposure:

• Deaths due to exposure to hazardous chemicals worldwide have increased by 29% in 2019 from what they were in 2016.
  • Two million people died due to exposure to hazardous chemicals in 2019, compared to 1.56 million in 2016.
• Around 4,270 and 5,400 people died every day due to unintentional exposure to chemicals.
• Children and young adults are particularly affected by unintentional poisoning from hazardous chemicals.

Lead Exposure:

• Lead is primarily used in paints for various reasons, including enhancing the color, reducing corrosion and decreasing the drying time.
• Lead exposure causes cardiovascular diseases(CVD), chronic kidney diseases, and idiopathic intellectual disability.
• Further, Lead is responsible for nearly 45% or close to half of deaths caused due to hazardous chemicals in 2019.
• Over 0.9 million people died from exposure to lead. Of these, close to 9 out of every 10 persons died from CVD due to lead exposure.
  • The deaths due to lead exposure have increased by a disturbing 67% since 2016.

Note: In 2020, UNICEF in its report “The Toxic Truth” had raised concerns on the impact of lead pollution on the health of children. According to the report, at least 1 in 3 children — up to approximately 800 million globally — have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per decilitre(µg/dL).

Deaths due to other Hazardous Chemicals:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) from exposure to occupational particulates including dust, fumes, and gas has claimed over 0.5 million lives.
• Over 3.5 million died from cancers due to occupational exposure to carcinogenic chemicals like arsenic, asbestos, and benzene.

Disability-adjusted life-years lost too

• In 2019, 53 million disability-adjusted life-years were lost due to Hazardous chemicals’ exposure. This is an increase of over 19% since 2016.
  • The disability-adjusted life year(DALY) is a measure of overall disease burden expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability, or early death.
• In 2019, 21.6 million disability-adjusted life-years were lost due to lead exposure. This is an increase by over 56% since 2016.

Steps to be taken by World and India:

• India must bring a comprehensive law to regulate chemical use, production, and safety. However, India’s national chemical policy has been pending since 2012.
• Moreover, the world is lagging behind in controlling lead use. Just 41% of countries including India have legally binding controls on the production, import, sale, and use of lead paints.