Environment & Health Research Unit

Lead poisoning prevention

Leading poisoning is a serious public health challenge, especially in developing countries. Past use of lead in petrol, the legacy of the use of lead in paint, the use of lead in industry and lead use in the informal sector (including in cottage industries) has been responsible for acute and chronic lead exposure in South Africa.

In recent years two major milestones have been achieved in South Africa in the struggle to prevent lead poisoning in children: the removal of lead from petrol and the promulgation of regulations to control the use of lead in paint. MRC surveys have also shown that the blood lead levels of first grade school children have been declining in recent years.   

However, large numbers of young South African children continue to have unacceptably high blood lead levels, and in certain groups/areas, blood lead levels may be increasing. Studies on childhood exposure to lead have/are being conducted by the MRC Environment and Health Research Unit to understand the problem, and to inform policy development. These include:

• Periodic (approximately every five years) surveys of the blood lead levels of first grade school children attending selected schools in Cape Town (Woodstock, Hout Bay and Mitchell’s Plain), Johannesburg (Alexandra, Bertrams, Fairview, Doornfontein, Westbury, Riverlea, Soweto, Craighall Park), Kimberley, Aggeneys, Pella and Onseepkans;
• Studies of the lead concentrations in paint applied to housing, toys and playground equipment in public parks;
• A study of the blood lead levels in children participating in the Birth to Twenty cohort study, including an analysis on the impact of lead exposure on pubertal development;
• A survey of the impact of ingestion of non-food substances during pregnancy on the concentrations of heavy metals in maternal blood.

The information generated by the MRC lead-related studies is being analyzed and written up on an ongoing basis for publication in scientific journals. A selection of these articles is given below:

• Naicker N, Norris S, Mathee A, von Schirnding Y, Richter L. Prenatal and adolescent blood lead levels in South Africa: Child, maternal and household risk factors in the Birth to Twenty cohort. Environmental Research, 2010, 110(4): 355 – 362.
• Mbongwe B, Mpuchane M, Zhai M, Barnes B, Mathee A. Exposure to Lead among Children in the City of Gaborone – Results of a Pilot study. Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2010, 10(1): 17 – 26.
• Mathee A, Singh E, Mogotsi M, Timothy G, Maduka B, Oliver J, Ing D. Lead- based paint on playground equipment in public children’s parks in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni. South African Medical Journal, 2009, 99: 819 – 821.
• Norman R, Mathee A, Barnes B, van der Merwe L, Bradshaw D; South African Comparative Risk Assessment Collaborating Group. Estimating the burden of disease attributable to lead exposure in South Africa in 2000. South African Medical Journal, 2007, 97: 773-80.
• Mathee A, Röllin H, Levin J, Naik I. Lead in Paint: Three Decades Later and Still a Hazard for African Children? Environmental Health perspectives 2007, 111(3): 321-322.
• Mathee A, Rollin H, von Schirnding Y, Levin J, Naik I. Reductions in blood lead levels among school children following the introduction of unleaded petrol in South Africa. Environ Research, 2006, 100(3): 319-22.
• Montgomery M, Mathee A. A preliminary study of residential paint lead concentrations in an African city; Johannesburg. Environmental Research 2005; 98:279-83.
• Mathee A, von Schirnding Y, Montgomery M, Röllin H. Lead poisoning in South African children: the hazard at home. Reviews in Environmental Health 2004; 3-4.