SOME YEARS ago the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS ) at the UWI, Mona, discovered excessive levels of lead in the children who attended the Kintyre Basic School near Papine in St. Andrew. The children were being contaminated by lead in the soil of the schoolyard. Inadvertently, the institution had been built on the site of the old processing plant for lead mined in the area between 1758 and 1856.
Last week, ICENS reported that its intervention has successfully reduced lead levels in the children of Kintyre. According to chairman and director-general, Prof. Gerald Lalor, blood levels are now below internationally recognised acceptable standards. High blood levels of lead have been implicated in causing damage to the nervous system and kidneys and in producing lower IQ and fertility rates. Research has also linked high levels of lead in the blood to violent and criminal behaviour.
Another source of contamination is the recycling of lead from discarded motor vehicle batteries in backyard operations. Fraser's Content in St. Catherine was registering high levels of contamination from this source until Blue Cross of Jamaica intervened a few years ago.
The ICENS intervention at Kintyre was pretty simple. The schoolyard was covered with marl and paved with cement. And the children were fed a diet designed to counteract lead poisoning. These approaches, along with improved sanitation and public education, dramatically reduced lead levels in only 10 months.
The work of ICENS in Kintyre and of Blue Cross in Fraser's Content demonstrates how local scientific enterprise can and should serve the social and economic needs of the country both in identifying and resolving technical problems.
A couple of weeks ago, The Gleaner carried an important contribution from Prof. Ronald Young, the Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, UWI, Mona, on "Foot and mouth disease the lessons for Jamaica". While a lot of work may be done quietly behind the scenes by the scientific community in the national interest, a greater engagement with public issues to which scientific expertise can be applied is in order. In this regard, the media can help.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
