PESHAWAR (Web Desk) Alarm has been raised over children’s health in the industrial town of Hattar after a UNICEF survey found elevated blood lead levels in 88 per cent of the children tested, prompting calls for urgent action to identify and curb potential sources of exposure.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Khaleequr Rehman said UNICEF tested 75 children living in areas around Hattar Industrial Estate, with the findings revealing what provincial authorities described as worryingly high lead concentrations.
According to the minister, blood lead readings among the children ranged between 18.3 and 21.3, a situation he said required immediate attention.
The findings have sparked concern about environmental conditions surrounding one of the province’s major industrial areas and the possible risks faced by families living nearby.
Authorities now face the challenge of determining where the exposure is coming from and whether industrial emissions or contamination of air, soil, water or other sources are contributing to the problem.
Medical expert Shazia Jadoon warned that failure to control lead emissions could result in serious consequences and stressed the need for effective measures to protect children from pollution in industrial zones.
Children face greater risk
Lead exposure is considered particularly concerning for children because their developing bodies and nervous systems are more vulnerable to its harmful effects. Significant or prolonged exposure can affect learning, behaviour and development.
The scale of the findings among the children tested in Hattar has therefore intensified calls for a detailed environmental investigation rather than treating the results as an isolated health issue.
Urgent action sought
Health and environmental authorities could now face growing pressure to trace potential sources of lead exposure, strengthen pollution monitoring and assess whether a wider population around Hattar Industrial Estate may also be at risk.
Experts have stressed that controlling the source of contamination will be critical to preventing continued exposure.
The findings also raise broader questions over environmental safeguards around industrial areas and whether existing pollution-control measures are sufficient to protect nearby communities, particularly children.
