How Bangladesh removed lead from turmeric spice — and saved lives.

September 21, 2023 10:56 AM

Lead poisoning kills millions annually. One country is showing the way forward.
posted by Etrigan (11 comments total)

How do you know if you have lead poisoning? Does it impact you as soon as you lick a pipe? Or does it have to permeate your system over time?

Is there a difference between low levels and high levels? Is there a threshold?

Can you get better? does it change you forever, or only while levels are high?
posted by rebent at 12:57 PM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Reading this makes you realize how rarely you see a story that goes, there was this really bad problem hurting people, and then it got fixed, and now things are better. I was so happy to read it! (although nervously eyeing the turmeric in the cabinet...)
posted by mittens at 1:01 PM on September 21, 2023 [9 favorites]

That's a great success story. Food adulteration is older than adding lead (II) acetate= Pb(CH₃COO)₂ to sweeten wine in Ancient Rome. Turmeric yellow is Chrome Yellow = PbCrO₄ = lead (II) chromate. It used to be used on school buses but "Fortunately, the formulation for school bus yellow was changed decades ago." Orpiment As₂S₃, is a) bright yellow b) widely used in Bangladesh and elsewhere as a depilatory c) much more acutely toxic than Chrome Yellow (which has low solubility in water). That chronic rather than acute toxicity was/is one of the reasons why the turmeric story is harder to identify & deal with. Orpiment would be a bad choice for adultators, because there would be no repeat business! Other far more toxic forms of "hexavalent chromium" featured in Erin Brockavich's story.

We can thank Alice Hamilton (1969-1970!) of the Illinois Commission on Occupational Diseases for flagging the dangers of lead-poisoning in workplaces and elsewhere. It only took the automobile industry 70 years to pay attention to her 1925 report on lead in gas.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:17 PM on September 21, 2023 [15 favorites]

How do you know if you have lead poisoning? Does it impact you as soon as you lick a pipe? Or does it have to permeate your system over time?

You can suffer from acute lead poisoning but more commonly damage occurs over time due to chronic environmental exposure.

Symptoms may be subtle or difficult to recognize until quite a bit of lead exposure has occurred - one of the big problems with lead damage is that you may not know until things are pretty far along.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:21 PM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile we are not doing much about the lead in our chocolate.
posted by interogative mood at 1:23 PM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Get a blood test if you are concerned. Be prepared to explain to your healthcare worker that your employer isn’t trying to hide occupational exposure by telling you to go get tested on your own.

I solder electronics and shoot guns, and I did not have detectable lead in my blood last time I checked.
posted by ryanrs at 1:55 PM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

*1869-1970. Still impressive, just in the other direction.
posted by mpark at 2:05 PM on September 21, 2023 [7 favorites]

This is a terrific story. Good for Pakistan; lead is especially bad for kids, but generally bad for everybody, and some public health bureaucrat was smart and effective in launching this. Hero.
posted by theora55 at 9:45 PM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Bangladesh, not Pakistan. (Different country.) This link to Undark from the Vox article has more details.
posted by Coaticass at 2:26 AM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

So... I was really enjoying the very strongly flavoured and yellow-coloured turmeric I got from a local Indian grocer recently and now I'm side-eyeing it...
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:28 AM on September 22, 2023

Sorry, Bangladesh.
posted by theora55 at 2:40 AM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]