Head of ICENS, Professor Gerald Lalor points to posters showing the work of ICENS in lessening the levels of lead in the soil in Kintyre, St Andrew.

THE International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Science (ICENS), UWI, Mona yesterday revealed that blood lead levels in students now attending the Kintyre Basic School in rural St Andrew, are within internationally acceptable levels, following an intervention programme by that body to improve the health and safety of students at the school almost seven years ago.

According to Mitko Vutchkov, ICENS' senior research fellow, the students' blood levels now fall below 10 microgramme per decilitre, the safe level using United States Centre for Disease Control standards.

"These results show that our intervention campaign performed in 1996 was successful and sustainable for the next generation of Kintyre children," Vutchkov said yesterday during the celebrations of 'Lead-Safe Day' at the Kintyre Basic School.

With a $7-million grant from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), ICENS began conducting studies and lead abatement activities in the Kintyre area between 1995 and 1996, and again between 2000 and 2002 after finding high concentrations of lead in the soil during an islandwide examination of occurrences of the metal.

The presence of lead in the area is said to have originated from the processing of the lead ore from the Hope Mine in the 18th century and the mine waste dumped in the surrounding area.

Vutchkov said that the Kintyre Basic School and the Kintyre United Church were built on the lead processing area, thus resulting in the high lead levels in the children's blood prior to ICENS' intervention. One student, he added, recorded a high of 70 microgramme per decilitre.

Children from the ages of two to six are said to be more vulnerable to lead poisoning, since their bodies absorb the metal more easily than adults and they engage in a lot of "hand-to-mouth" activities.

The high levels of blood lead, according to medical experts, can cause neurological and kidney damage, inattentiveness, violent and criminal behaviour and could significantly reduce a child's IQ since children's brains and nervous systems are still developing.

During both phases of the project, the lead-contaminated soil was paved and the parents and students educated on the preventative and corrective measures regarding lead poisoning. ICENS also provided nutritional supplements for the students to counter lead poisoning.

"A second test performed 10 months after that intervention, showed that the blood lead levels of the same children were reduced to the safe limit," Vutchkov noted.

But this did little to comfort the parents.

The school's principal, Desrene Mitchell, said the attendance record fell below average after the discovery of the presence of lead, with some parents even transferring their students to other schools.

She thanked the ICENS team for their efforts in providing "safer grounds for my students to play".

Yesterday, Vutchkov told the Sunday Observer, that the project will be expanded islandwide in the coming weeks.

"This is not a follow-up to our activities in Kintyre but to carry out studies into other areas of the island where high concentrations of lead are still present in top soil," he said. "We also want to educate people on the many sources of lead poisoning."

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