Study to assess traces of lead in City cops' blood

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), the Bangalore Traffic Police and the National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning in India (NRCLPI) will conduct a study across the City to determine the level of lead in the blood of traffic police personnel.

The study, beginning in June, also aims at assessing the air quality in the City and will be conducted in various phases. In the first phase, 941 traffic police personnel of Bangalore West Traffic Division will be assessed.

Back in 1998-99, the NRCLPI had carried out a sample study and the results revealed unacceptable levels of lead in the blood of traffic cops. However, no such study has been conducted since 2000, after unleaded petrol was introduced.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dr Thuppil Venkatesh, Director, NRCLPI, said: “We want to conduct a study now as it has not been reviewed in the last 14 years. We will start the study with the West Division Traffic Police.”

He said the permissible lead content, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, is two micrograms per 100 ml of blood. “Traffic police personnel across Karnataka will be studied gradually,” he said, adding that the study will also determine the causes of lead content in blood.

Thuppil, known as Lead Man of India, said: “The project will be funded by the KSPCB and the equipment will be sent to the traffic police stations and the results obtained within 15 minutes. One set will be given to the officer and other will be with us for assessment.”

Studies have also shown high lead content in MG Road soil. This could be because of high vehicular movement. Basic symptoms of ailments due to lead are headache, body pain and heart problems. They are generally not tested during normal health checkups and only lead tests will reveal this, added NRCLPI scientist Vinay Kumar.

KSPCB Chairman Vaman Acharya said: “We want to cover the whole Bangalore area and find out what the lead levels are in different areas and how contaminated the air in the City is. Police is the baseline for the study because they are the worst hit and are exposed to 8-12 hours of pollution, dust and noise.”

Additional Commissioner of police (Traffic) B Dayananda said that they wanted to get a complete picture of the health of policemen as many of them suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes.
“With this in mind, we approached KSPCB and NRCLPI and they agreed. The department has also tied up with private hospitals for regular health checkups of its staff,” he said.