Lancet Planetary Health Article Finds Lead Exposure is Even More Deadly and Costly Than Previously Realized

"On the World Health Organization's list of 10 chemicals of major public health concern, lead is a familiar villain. The toxic metal contaminates air, soil, water and food, and builds up inside bodies over time. Its most widely publicized health impact is neurological damage in children, often measured in the loss of intelligence quotient (IQ) points. But lead's pernicious effects don't stop in childhood nor at the brain.

According to a new study in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, an estimated 5.455 million adults worldwide died in 2019 from cardiovascular disease (CVD) attributable to lead exposure – a toll more than six times higher than a previous estimate. The study goes on to provide what its authors say are the first monetary estimates of the total global cost of these lead-attributable deaths, along with the magnitude and cost of IQ loss in children under 5 years old.

For 2019 alone, the study puts the combined toll of cognitive damage and CVD mortality at $6 trillion (based on projected loss of future income and an economic measure known as value of statistical life), with the greatest burden falling on low- and middle-income countries."

• Children younger than 5 years lost 765 million IQ points in 2019 due to lead exposure.
• Worldwide, 5,545,000 adults died from cardiovascular disease due to lead exposure.
• The global cost of lead exposure in 2019 came to $6 trillion in U.S. dollars, "which was equivalent to 6.9%...of the global gross domestic product. 77%...of the cost was the welfare cost of cardiovascular disease mortality, and 23%...was the present value of future income losses from IQ loss."
• 95.3% of the total global IQ loss and 90.2% of total cardiovascular disease deaths occurred in low to middle income countries (LMICs).
• "The estimate of the global health burden of lead exposure in this study places lead exposure as an environmental risk factor at par with PM2.5 ambient and household air pollution combined, and ahead of unsafe household drinking water, sanitation, and handwashing."

The authors of the Lancet study offered the following closing remarks:

"In conclusion, our estimated magnitude of global health effects and costs of lead exposure lends urgency to reducing population exposure to lead. First and foremost, periodic national blood lead level measurements must be institutionalised. These measurements must be accompanied by comprehensive source identification as well as relevant legislative responses in order to effectively combat lead pollution and exposure. It should also be noted that global health effects and costs of other chemicals than lead could also be substantial and largely remains to be quantified at national population levels."