High levels of lead contamination found in school playground equipment
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The Pollution Control Department (PCD) reported yesterday that high levels of lead had been found in playground equipment at a primary school in Rayong.
It said three students between the ages of eight and 10 had been affected by lead poisoning, and it blamed the contamination on substandard paint used on the playground equipment.
The equipment was found at Ban Khao Huay Mahat School in Rayong province’s Ban Chang district. The PCD’s Special Environmental Response Team, led by Sumetha Wichianphet, used a fluorescent chemical-detection device to examine the soil, food containers and playground equipment at the school and discovered up to 2,000-3,000 parts per million of lead in the playground equipment.
Regulations require that paint have no more than 600ppm of lead.
Before this case came to light, a team of researchers from Thammasat University’s public health faculty conducted a random test, collecting blood samples from 907 students in five schools in Rayong’s Ban Chang and Ban Khai districts during June 2010 to May this year to test for lead poisoning.
In this test, 82 of the 907 students from five schools, including Ban Khao Huay Mahat School, were found to have lead contamination.
Three of the children had more than 45 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood. Standards allow lead levels in the human body to be no more than 10mcg per decilitre of blood.
Another blood test conducted a few months ago by staff from Ban Chang Hospital showed that the level of lead contamination in the three students had dropped to 5mcg per decilitre.
“They do not face any serious health problems,” a physician from Ban Chang Hospital who chose to remain unnamed said.
“They can lead normal lives like other kids.”
