USAID provides grant for lead level tests<\/p>\n
BANDUNG: The United States Agency for International
\nDevelopment has given a US$25,000 grant to a program that will
\ntest lead levels in schoolchildren and street vendors in Bandung.<\/p>\n
Suzanne Billharz of the USAID's US-Asia Environmental
\nPartnership said on Monday such tests were important to determine
\nthe influence of leaded gasoline on human health in order to push
\nthe government to speed up the switch to unleaded gasoline.<\/p>\n
\"We have provided a grant for two forms for examination; test
\nkits for 220 elementary school students and direct examinations
\n(conventionally done by taking blood samples for laboratory
\ntesting) for about 200 other residents,\" she said.<\/p>\n
There have been reports chronicling worsening air quality in
\nBandung, with high lead levels in some parts of the city. Recent
\nchecks of vehicles in Bandung found 63 vehicles that failed
\nemission tests, according to air pollution expert Puji Lestari
\nfrom the Bandung Institute of Technology.<\/p>\n
\"Forty-seven percent of 64 people we randomly examined, from
\nschool children to policemen and parking attendants, showed
\nincreased lead levels in their blood, higher than allowed
\nlevels,\" she said. -- JP<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/usaid-provides-grant-for-lead-level-tests-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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