Lead in hair and urine of children and adults from industrialized areas.

Abstract

The study of hair and urine lead concentrations in urban populations of various age groups exposed to contaminating effects of industry and transport and the corresponding analysis of lead in ambient air and soil have made it possible to determine the percentage of subjects showing evidence of elevated lead bioconcentrations. The highest lead concentrations among children were found among those who resided near a copper smelter (18.2 micrograms/g), a lead-cadmium plant (31.1 micrograms/g), and a storage battery factory (48.3 micrograms/g). In adults who resided in the same area, hair lead was lower; however, it exceeded the control group values by up to five times. Hair lead concentration in children correlated with lead content in air and soil (r = 0.7 and r = 0.74, respectively). In the majority of European countries and in the United States, legislative acts have been adopted recently to sharply reduce lead content in gasoline (i.e., from 0.4 to 0.15 g/l). Drastic measures need to be taken to diminish lead concentration in ambient air in Russia. Biomonitoring should be applied in preventive medicine, including medical inspection of industrial workers.