The battery recycling factory located in Sant Julià de Llor i Bonmatí (Selva) does not emit a quantity of lead that is harmful to health. This is the main conclusion that can be drawn from the results of the tests carried out on children and pregnant women last June.
Some analyzes that Salut was forced to carry out due to the growing concern of the City Council and the neighbors about the presence of this factory for decades in this municipality of the La Selva region, which in the past had also had lead mines.
The results show that 99.3% of the analyzes rule out high concentrations of this metal and are at levels below the maximum established by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter. Only in one case is this figure exceeded, by very little.
The person affected is a child, who gave a rate of 3.6 micrograms per deciliter. Salut is currently analyzing the questionnaire that the minor’s family answered when the extraction was performed.
In it, he asked about eating habits and lifestyle, since there are other factors that can increase the presence of lead in the blood, such as tobacco, paints, toys, cosmetics or drinking water pipes.
The deputy director of Public Health in Girona, Lluïsa Mas, explained this morning that in this case the family environment will be studied and the analysis will be repeated in a few months. Meanwhile, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and also iron is recommended, an element that helps reduce the absorption of lead.
Mas points out that the results of the analysis, in line with what the Department of Health expected, are “very reassuring” and hopes that they serve to reduce “the concern” of the population. The results, in addition, are “similar” to other studies carried out in populations without sources of exposure other than the usual ones.
In Bonmatí there is the addition of a battery recycling factory that emanates lead particles and that, as the then mayor, Marc Garcia, recalled on June 11, also caused a “strong metallic stench” and sometimes caused eye irritation. , nose and guarantee.
42% of the 140 valid analyzes (138 children up to 14 years of age and two pregnant women) the blood lead level is below the detection limit, which is 1 microgram/deciliter. In this group would be the two pregnant women who volunteered to do the analysis.
80% of the participants are registered in the town. The study involved 110 of the 226 registered children, whose average age is around eight and a half years. The rest of the children, up to a total of 138, are from other municipalities but are closely linked to Bonmatí.
The geometric median is 0.99 micrograms/deciliter. The rest of the values ??are different, although all but one of them are below the reference value recommended by the WHO, which is 3.5 micrograms/deciliter.
Based on these figures, Salut will also analyze the answers to the questionnaire that the families have answered to see if any statistical conclusion can be drawn. The intention is that in September the final results will be made public.
