Soroka Hospital, the MDA Blood Services, the National Public Health Laboratory and Ben Gurion University are partners in the study, funded by the Ministry of Environmental Protection * The connection to industry comes from the location of the subjects in relation to polluting industrial plants and mining, but the authors of the study want to conduct a more direct examination
The residents of Haifa carry in their blood and bodies large amounts of chromium and lead emitted from polluting factories and quarries. This is according to a new study with the support and funding of the Ministry of Environmental Protection that examined the concentrations of metals in the blood of Haifa Bay residents, compared to the general population in Israel. The study was carried out by the Clinical Research Center at Soroka Hospital, in collaboration with the Blood Services Center of Magen David Adom, the National Public Health Laboratory and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
The study was conducted between the years 2020-2022 on samples taken from volunteer blood donors of the MDA blood services, after receiving their consent. The study examined the presence of heavy metal concentrations in human blood, with the aim of evaluating the relationship between metal concentrations and environmental exposures and air pollution. All findings were adjusted for measures such as age, gender and smoking.
The study was conducted between March 2020 and February 2022 on blood samples to compare concentrations of heavy metals among blood donors living in the Haifa Bay area compared to donors from other areas in Israel. As part of the research, 4 types of metals were tested - arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb).
The results of the research are published as part of a call by the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. The research was led by Prof. Lena Novak from the Soroka Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, together with Prof. Eilat Shanar, Dr. Asher Moser and Dr. Eliezer Yaffe from the Blood Services Center of Magen David Adom, Prof. Itai Kellogg from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Lior Hassan from the Soroka Medical Center. The researchers collaborated with Dr. Efrat Rorman and Dr. Loda Groysman from the National Public Health Laboratory.
This research is in accordance with section 10 of the government's decision to reduce air pollution and reduce environmental risks in the Haifa Bay area from 2015.
In the abstract of the study, the researchers write: "During the last decade, an excess of morbidity rates was reported among the residents of Haifa compared to the rest of the country, when the disparity in morbidity was attributed to air pollution from local industries. The aim of the present study is to compare concentrations of heavy metals among blood donors living in Haifa Bay with donors from other regions of Israel and to evaluate the relationship between metal concentrations and environmental exposures.
Conclusions
Blood donors from the Haifa Bay area are characterized by low levels of arsenic and cadmium, and high levels of chromium and lead. Compared to donors from the rest of the country. Donors with high lead concentrations tend to live closer to quarries and be exposed to higher levels of carbon monoxide, particles 10 nanometers in size and larger, and sulfur dioxide. Air pollution levels were found to be related to blood metal concentrations.
Recommendations for further research
In light of the findings of the present study, it is very important to comprehensively investigate possible sources of exposure such as industries and quarries in the Haifa Bay and other areas in the country that are characterized by high levels of metals. This analysis is planned by the researchers later in the work.
In addition, it seems that there is a need to test the rest of the samples that were just collected but not tested due to budget limitations. Additional tests will add statistical power and detail to the findings received so far and will help locate possible sources of exposure. Also, a relationship with morbidity indicators in the Haifa Bay area should be examined, especially related to exposure to chromium and lead.
A few personal words
The writer of these lines was in the 1987s the environment correspondent of the haifani local "Kalvo". Already in XNUMX I reported on a study according to which the rate of lung cancer cases in Haifa is higher than the national average, but it took another forty years until the subject was investigated in depth. Conclusion - it pays to be a polluting industrialist, the profits on you the damages - on the families of the sick and the deceased. And by the time the government looks into it, generations of great-grandsons of tycoons will have passed.
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One response
This 'research' is roughly the same as the 'research' that found that the skulls of newborns in Haifa are smaller than the national average, due to the pollution in the Gulf....