Scientists found food with lead in Mexico
Scientists found food with lead in Mexico, after an investigation by the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City.
On the afternoon of February 21, researchers from the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City, the National Institute of Public Health, the National Institute of Rehabilitation, as well as Pure Earth, a non-profit environmental organization, discovered foods with lead in Mexico.
In this regard, these organizations warned about the presence of lead in 103 foods, beverages and spices most consumed by the Mexican population.
Likewise, it was reported that they found the presence of this toxic substance in a little more than 18% of the products analyzed.
Scientists found foods with lead in Mexico, an element that in large quantities can be lethal for the human organism.
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–Foods with lead in Mexico–
Among the foods with detectable lead values identified were rice products, wheat products, soy products, turmeric, pepper, guajillo chili, sausages such as ham and sausages, tamarind-based candies and rice and soy-based baby products.
In other words, these foods were found to contain lead in Mexico, meaning these are mass consumption products.
Some of these foods are part of the basic food basket.
Among the foods with lead in Mexico, industrialized foods made from wheat and rice stand out.
These exceeded the maximum allowable limits of lead (0.20 mg of lead per kilo of product) in foods established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
You cannot forget that exceeding this value in food can imply a health risk.
¿How does lead get into food?
Lead is found naturally in the environment; however, its presence in natural foods is mainly due to industrial waste, which causes soil, air and water used for irrigation and food cultivation to become contaminated.
–Effects and symptoms of lead in the body:
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), lead is a toxic metal whose widespread use has caused environmental contamination and health problems in many parts of the world.
It is a cumulative toxic substance that affects multiple body systems, including the cardiovascular and neurological, hematological, digestive, and renal systems.
Children are especially vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of lead, and even relatively low levels of exposure can cause severe and in some cases irreversible neurological damage.
If the blood lead concentration is elevated, symptoms of acute brain injury (encephalopathy) often appear.
In addition, a lower blood lead concentration that is maintained for longer periods of time sometimes results in long-term intellectual impairment.
Adults who are exposed to lead at work often develop characteristic symptoms, such as personality changes, headaches, abdominal pain, and nerve damage, with numbness and loss of sensation in the feet and legs) over several weeks or longer.
Adults may experience loss of sexual appetite, infertility and, in males, erectile dysfunction (impotence).
