La contaminación por plomo y sus impactos en los derechos humanos

The report details the severe health risks of lead exposure, particularly for children, and links these impacts to violations of international human rights treaties. It highlights specific cases of lead poisoning in Nigeria, Kazakhstan, and China, and identifies leaded fuel, lead-based paint, and battery recycling as primary sources of contamination.

• Lead exposure causes severe and often irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system, particularly in children, leading to intellectual disabilities, learning problems, and behavioral issues. There is no known safe blood lead concentration level.
• The World Health Organization estimates that lead pollution causes 143,000 deaths annually, with the highest burden in developing countries. In Nigeria, lead dust from gold mining caused hundreds of child deaths, with one in four children dying in two villages within a single year.
• Lead exposure in childhood contributes to approximately 600,000 new cases of intellectual disability every year. Children living near battery plants in developing countries have average blood lead levels thirteen times higher than those in the United States.
• While most countries have eliminated leaded gasoline, six countries continued to use it as of 2011: Afghanistan, Myanmar, and North Korea relied on it exclusively, while Algeria, Yemen, and Iraq used a combination of leaded and unleaded fuels.
• Lead-based paint is a significant source of contamination in homes, particularly affecting children in poor communities. The WHO estimates that lead paint causes 600,000 new cases of intellectual disability in children annually.
• The report identifies systemic failures in the right to information and effective remedy. In Mexico, approximately 50% of lead battery recycling facilities failed to report lead emissions. In China, local authorities have withheld lead poisoning test results from parents in the Henan, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Yunnan regions.
• Lead battery manufacturing and recycling are the primary global sources of lead exposure for workers. In developing countries, the average blood lead level for workers in these plants is more than four times the level considered high by the US CDC.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). La contaminación por plomo y sus impactos en los derechos humanos. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/HR_Lead_SPA-1.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. La contaminación por plomo y sus impactos en los derechos humanos. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/HR_Lead_SPA-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=La contaminación por plomo y sus impactos en los derechos humanos |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/HR_Lead_SPA-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndcontaminacin, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{La contaminación por plomo y sus impactos en los derechos humanos}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/HR_Lead_SPA-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }