Sanad to highlight dangers of lead poisoning from toys

Reem Hegelan, general manager of Sanad (seated right) and UNICOIL President Raeed Alajaji at the signing ceremony in Jubail last week.

RIYADH: An awareness campaign on the hazards of lead poisoning from children’s toys is to be launched by Sanad, the Children’s Cancer Support Association.
The association signed a cooperation agreement with the Universal Metal Coating Company Limited (UNICOIL) to launch a coordinated awareness campaign warning against the hazards of lead, by circulating specific guidelines and instructions based on studies approved by international organizations.
"As part of its social responsibility efforts, Universal Metal Coating Company Limited (UNICOIL) continues its ongoing social awareness campaigns, which began nearly four years ago to warn the public against the hazards of lead in paints and coated metal products, as well as about lead poisoning, which causes many chronic diseases suffered by children under six years of age,” an official from the organization said Sunday.
The ongoing cooperation between UNICOIL and Sanad stems from their belief in the importance of serving the public through education and awareness against this imminent danger.
Lead is poisonous and can severely harm human health when present in concentrations exceeding safe limits, especially when used in media, which can come into direct or indirect contact with humans through air, water and soil. Examples include children's toys, cosmetic materials, residential paints, galvanized steel sheets used in the fabrication of potable water tanks and pipes, air conditioning, A/C ducting, as well as other uses, all of which can transmit lead poisoning to humans.
Studies conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), says that inorganic lead compounds are probably carcinogenic to human.
The main threats to human health from heavy metals are associated with exposure to lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. These metals have been extensively studied and their effects on human health have been regularly reviewed by international bodies such as the WHO. Heavy metals have been used by humans for thousands of years. Although several adverse health effects of heavy metals have been known for a long time, exposure to heavy metals continues and is even increasing in some parts of the world, in particular in less developed countries even though emissions have declined in most developed countries over the last 100 years.