Waste pickers exposed to discarded electronics, aluminum and metal cans have up to four times higher levels of the toxic heavy metal cadmium in their blood than the wider population, a study has found. Researchers in Brazil found that salvagers and workers at recycling facilities—known as waste pickers—who previously worked in another occupation had lower cadmium levels, suggesting that length of exposure and heavy metal concentration levels are linked.
Scientists compared the levels of cadmium, mercury and lead in the blood of 226 workers from four recycling material cooperatives at recycling sorting facilities in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, with 653 people who do not work in the industry. The study found 0.47 micrograms of cadmium per liter of blood among recyclers, compared with 0.12 micrograms among other workers. Lead levels were about 10 micrograms higher among waste workers.
A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) study found that the children of waste pickers are also exposed to heavy metals, such as lead. Parents whose jobs involve recycling batteries can bring contaminated dust home on their clothes, hair, hands and shoes. One in three children—about 800 million worldwide—have high levels of lead in their blood, UNICEF says. According to the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers, there are more than two million such workers in Latin America, with 600,000 in Brazil alone. In China, there are almost 2.5 million and in India, up to four million people are estimated to work in the waste collection sector.
Source: Phys.org
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