By Francine Black, Staff Reporter
JAMAICANS INTERESTED in being tested for lead poisoning will have to visit private facilities and pay up to $5,000 for their blood to be drawn and processed overseas as there are no public labs locally to do the testing.
Professor Gerald Lalor, chairman and director-general of the International Centre for Environment and Nuclear Science (ICENS) and his lead research team of Dr. Mitko Vutchkov, senior research fellow and 2002 Gleaner Honour Awardee for Science and Technology and Sean Bryan, scientific officer, say there are no testing facilities locally.
"When we were doing our research we tried to find out if there was any facility that did the testing but we found that there were none," Mr. Bryan said.
DEFECTIVE
According to the team, the only machine which is at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, has been defective since 1994.
Checks at MICROLABS Limited proved that the cost to get the testing done was $2,800. However, at the medical laboratory based at the Oxford Medical Centre the testing costs US$53 plus $2,500 which added up to more than $5,000. According to a lab technician there, this sum was required because the samples had to be sent to the United States for analysis.
The lead researchers have been using a machine costing US$2,000, which is supplemented by testing kits which cost US$350 each.
Last week The Gleaner reported that 54 new cases of lead poisoning have been discovered, 12 of which required urgent medical attention. The cost concerns Dr. Vutchkov, who noted that most of the cases found so far were in poor, low income households that could not afford to pay these costs for testing. Checks so far with the Ministry of Health found that there are no immediate plans to install testing facilities anywhere here.
In the meantime, backyard battery repair operations continue to place children, who are the most susceptible to lead poisoning, at high risk.
At a home in the Corporate Area, visited by The Sunday Gleaner last week, Mark*, a battery repair for more than 10 years, had exposed
his wife to the poisoning. She passed it to both her children during
pregnancy.
"We never knew it was dangerous," Maria*, the children's mother, told The Sunday Gleaner.
Both their children have been hospitalised for lead poisoning after being found to have blood lead levels of 130 and 60 micrograms per decilitre. Cases above 45 micrograms per decilitre demand urgent medical attention.
DIAGNOSED
Their daughter, Alicia*, now seven years old who is the older child, was diagnosed with lead poisoning five years ago after she was admitted to hospital for vomiting and seizures.
"One night we were at home she started to have a seizure and vomit, we took her to the doctor and they treated her and sent her home. But when we came home it started again," Maria said.
They took Alicia to the children's hospital where she was admitted. She fell into a coma and remained in the hospital for four months. The parents spent $15,000 on the expenses associated with her stay. Their son's diagnosis came last year after the research team had visited the basic school in the community in which they live, and conducted testing as part of their research work.
The discovery of high led levels in the couple's daughter who was attending the basic school, and the research team's determination to find the source, led them to visit the household where both mother and son had high blood lead levels.
The care of both children and that of others requiring medical attention is being financed out of grant funds from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ). The EFJ is funding ICENS research at a cost of $4.7 million. The islandwide study is aimed at determining average lead levels among children in Jamaica.
But local authorities are faced with an even bigger problem, since locally there are no disposal sites for lead or contaminated soil which are classified as hazardous waste.
NEED
Trevor Ramikie, manager of the pollution, prevention and control branch at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) said the agency recognises that there is a need. Plans are, however, under way to locate a site to dispose of lead contaminated soil.
"Once we locate a site it will be a national one and will be managed by the National Solid Waste Management Authority," Mr. Ramikie said.
In the meantime, Tropical Battery Company collects and ships its batteries to the United States for recycling, free of cost and at no profit to the company.
Tony Wilson, sales manager at Tropical and head of this operation, said the company recognised that lead is toxic and wanted to do its part by ensuring that it did everything it could to protect the environment.
"We have an arrangement with the only wet battery (batteries with lead still in them) recycling company in the western hemisphere, where we send our batteries each month to be recycled," he said.
He noted that this was done under the observance of strict packaging and transportation guidelines that are set by the United States. The company also exports batteries made by other manufacturers, however it will be at a cost.
Mark has since closed down his battery repair operations because he wants to ensure he provides a safe environment for his family.
"Mi stop do it, mi only charge battery now," he said.
* Names have been changed upon request.
