Lead Content in Human Scalp Hair of Rural and Urban Residents in Taiwan

Abstract

In the last three decades, vehicular traffic has increased drastically in Taiwan, from 50 thousand registered motor vehicles in 1967 to over 5 million at present. Although the lead content of leaded gasoline produced in Taiwan was reduced from 0.56 g/L to 0.12 g/L between 1982 and 1988, half of these vehicles still use leaded gasoline. It is one of the major sources of lead contamination in the ambient air and dust in the city. The suitability of hair analysis as a means of screening for heavy metal exposure and heavy-metal poisoning is well documented. Numerous investigations worldwide have shown that hair lead concentrations are strongly correlated with the lead concentrations of other organs in the body. Hair presents an advantage from the sampling point of view because it is easily obtained, stored and analyzed. It also concentrates more lead per unit weight than any other tissue or body fluid. It has been estimated that for healthy persons, the lead concentration in hair may be 2-5 times higher than that in bone, 10-50 times than that of blood and from 100-500 times higher than in urine. The determination of trace elements in human scalp hair has become an accepted adjuvantmore » to the more traditional blood and urine analyses for identifying systemic heavy metal intoxication. In this study, the concentrations of lead were measured in hair from an urban and a rural population in Taiwan. The levels and distributions of lead between rural and urban residents were compared. 17 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.« less