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Cost to the Community for Elevated
Blood Lead Levels in Children
By Michelle Calvert,
Spokesperson, The LEAD Group
In 1993 the National Medical
Health and Research Council set an Australian goal for ALL Australians to be below 10
micrograms per decilitre [µg/dL] of lead in the blood.
The table below sets out costs to
the community for increases in blood lead levels - resulting in IQ point loss and
therefore cost to the community for health and remedial education and lost earning
potential.
BLOOD LEAD LEVEL
(µg/dL) |
Change in IQ points
(allowing only 2 IQ point loss per 10 µg/dL) |
Cost of IQ change per
child (allowing $5,190 per IQ point lost) |
1.5 µg/dL to 2.5 µg/dL |
0.3 to 0.5 |
$1,557 to $2,595 |
3 µg/dL to 5 µg/dL |
0.6 to 1.0 |
$3,114 to $5,190 |
4.5 µg/dL to 7.5 µg/dL |
0.9 to 1.5 |
$4,671 to $7,785 |
6 µg/dL to 10 µg/dL |
1.2 to 2.0 |
$6,228 to $10,380 |
8 µg/dL to 12 µg/dL |
1.6 to 2.4 |
$8,304 to $12,456 |
9 µg/dL to 15 µg/dL |
1.8 to 3 |
$9,342 to $15,570 |
12 µg/dL to 20 µg/dL |
2.4 to 4 |
$12,456 to $20,760 |
16 µg/dL to 24 µg/dL |
3.2 to 4.6 |
$16,608 to $24,912 |
18 µg/dL to 30 µg/dL |
3.6 to 6 |
$18,684 to $31,140 |
21 µg/dL to 35 µg/dL |
4.2 to 7 |
$21,798 to $36,300 |
(Source: Dr. Gul
IZMIR, ‘1993
NSW EPA.)
The NSW EPA estimate for the number of
preschoolers with blood lead levels above 10 micrograms per decilitre is between 36,600
and 221,620 in NSW ALONE.
Apart from the inestimable personal cost
of lost intellectual potential, the cost to the Australian economy is CONSERVATIVELY
equal to: 36,600 children x $8,304 to 221,620 x $12,456 for blood lead level of 10 mg/dL equals
$303,926,400 to $2,760,498,720. This sum of between almost $304 million to $2.8 billion
does not take into account the unknown number of older children and adults with elevated
blood lead levels.
Higher blood lead
levels mean more
cost to the community.
The economic benefits of
investing in lead prevention programs include:
-
healthier and smarter children with reduced anti-social behaviour
- reduction in special education costs
- sending children to school "ready to learn"
- reduction in health care costs - avoids expensive chelation
therapy and other associated health care expenditure
- employment opportunities created (as has occurred overseas) when a
viable lead abatement industry is established
- because lead is not biodegradable its potential to harm is long
lasting. Every building that is lead abated reduces the risk to future generations from
lead poisoning.
- children are still dying from sniffing leaded petrol in some
Australian communities (leaded petrol was phased out in NZ in September 1996. It was
banned in Japan in 1986, Canada in 1990, Austria 1993, USA 1995.)
- the latest estimate for the phase out of leaded petrol in
Australia is 2010!
"If even minimal increases in lead levels in
children contributes to a significant proportion of school failure and anti social
behaviour and ultimately impairs productivity in adulthood, as the current information
suggests, then a greater commitment than has hitherto been made is required to confront
this public health issue."
Drs. Alperstein and Vimpani, Journal of
Paediatrics and Child Health.
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