Last month we profiled new research that found links between “silent” miscarriages and pollution rates in Beijing. In short, scientists across five Chinese universities conducted an eight-year study that tracked 250,000 pregnant women’s exposure to four common pollutants between 2009 and 2017. They established that “in all groups, maternal exposure to each air pollutant was associated with the risk [of a silent miscarriage].”
While efforts to reduce pollution in the PRC are well underway, and before long, we’ll all be breathing clean sighs of relief, the damage that has been done will take a bit longer to reverse.
This is evidenced by a report from another study published earlier this year in the journal, Environmental Pollution, entitled, “Spatial Distribution of Lead Contamination in Soil and Equipment Dust at Children’s Playgrounds in Beijing, China”. This study, as its name suggests, analyzed the presence of lead contaminants both in the soil of children’s playgrounds, as well as in the dust that sits on the equipment children climb on and play around.
The authors, representing Tsinghua University, the University of Cambridge, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shaanxi Normal University, note that: “In quantifying child lead exposure, established health risk assessment (HRA) approaches often take into account residential soil lead levels. However, this may not constitute a significant exposure source for children in urban mainland China, where the population mainly dwell in high-rise buildings without back or front yards.” Thus, they conclude that “In this setting, children’s playgrounds may represent a more probable exposure source.”
On this front alone, the researchers found that of the 71 playgrounds surveyed across Beijing, the presence of lead in dust that had settled on a playground’s equipment was more than twice the average of that which was found in the soil. Likewise, average concentrations of dust-lead remained fairly consistent across Beijing, whereas the prevalence of lead in soil was higher at playgrounds in main city areas, as opposed to more rural parts of the Capital.
Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, the study found that “in certain areas of Beijing, the risk of blood lead levels (BLLs) exceeding safe levels was up to six times higher when based on dust exposure than when based on playground soil exposure.”
Unfortunately, statistical analysis suggested that all lead content resulted from both natural and anthropogenic sources – cars, factories, fossil fuel power stations, etc. – and that the dust-lead specifically, “may be associated with long-distance atmospheric transportation and deposition.”
So while curbing future emissions is undoubtedly necessary for the longevity of our planet, it’s also clear that in the meantime, current contaminants and pollutants will continue to build up on objects we routinely come into contact with. And that to preserve the health of future generations along with the planet, we need to devise strategies for cleaning up the mess we’ve already made, while also taking action to ensure that it doesn’t get worse.
Photos: Pixabay, Graphical Abstract
