 |
|
Scrap material used for cookware in
Cameroon includes old engine parts
|
In 2013, Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer was
contacted by Perry Gottesfeld of Occupational Knowledge International with a
question about the safety of cookware.
Mr. Gottesfeld was working with colleagues at an NGO (see: http://www.crepdcm.com/) in Cameroon to
reduce toxic exposures from lead paint, when questions were raised about the
possible hazards of the aluminum cookware that most people there use. In Cameroon, and throughout the developing
world, the recycling of scrap aluminum into cookware is a widespread
practice. After a preliminary
investigation we learned that source materials can include items such as old
engine blocks, radiators, and computer parts.
 |
| Pots awaiting sale in a Cameroon market |
Dr. Weidenhamer and several AU
students – Peter Kobunski, Alison Biro, and Meghann Fitzpatrick – along with AU
colleagues Dr. Rebecca Corbin and Dr. Michael Hudson, set out to investigate
the hazards of this cookware by looking at the metals that leached from the
pots in dilute vinegar solutions that mimicked mildly acidic solutions that are
often used for cooking. Working with Mr.
Gottesfeld, and beginning with cookware from Cameroon and then ten other developing nations, they found a number of cookware items that released toxic
levels of lead during simulated cooking.
The worst was a pot from Viet Nam that yielded more than 1400 micrograms
of lead per serving. Other metals
detected in the leachates of some pots included arsenic and cadmium, and almost
all of the items released levels of aluminum that exceed World Health
Organization guidelines.
The studies, which have been
published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, have encouraged
researchers in Cameroon, South Africa
and other countries
to conduct follow-up studies to assess the hazards of this cookware.
Dr. Weidenhamer notes that it is not often that
undergraduates can participate in research that has such direct and immediate
impact on public health. Two of the
students involved in this work are pursuing medical careers. Perry Gottesfeld comments, "Dr. Weidenhamer took on this research
without hesitation and now we have seen these important results replicated by
independent researchers in at least five countries demonstrating the
significance of the work by he and his students."
