Mapping Our ‘Pollution Landscape’ -Resurgence & Ecologist

Pollution causes more deaths than war, hunger or malaria, but often the most serious impacts are invisible and far away. In the UK and Europe, fairly strict regulations are in place, but that’s not the case in many low- to middle-income countries, where the people most affected by chemical pollution aren’t always aware of or able to avoid it.

In Mexico, ceramics are traditionally glazed with lead oxide, a heavy metal compound that is poisonous even at extremely low doses. Not only are thousands of artisan potters exposed to lead during the production process, but so too are the people using these pots in homes and restaurants across the country on a daily basis. If anything hot, or anything acidic such as orange juice, is cooked or served in these pots, lead leaches out into the food or drink.

The full scale of this lead poisoning only became apparent for the first time in 2019 when blood lead levels were included as part of the national survey of health and nutrition, a study that is conducted every six years by the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico. The report announced that lead-glazed pottery is the main source of lead poisoning exposure in Mexico and at least a million children between the ages of one and four have elevated blood lead levels as a result.

Read the full article here.